This week, it was Canadians who turned to the US and Europe, leading the majority of attention on Thursday at the 2025 ProCol Championship. Mackenzie Hughes came across a short 59 watch in his first round at Silverado Resort, but he eventually settled at a 9-under 63, leading Matt McCarty and Ben Griffin one stroke in the opening tournament of the FedEx Cup.
“We could stack it up there on the front nine,” Hughes said. “There was a sense of things going well around the turn, and I had a good feeling on the putter, so it was like walking into the gas and continuing to move forward.
Hughes rattles with nine birdies on his first 13 holes and faces a pair of par-5s coming in to make it even deeper. Instead, the Canadians traded some bogeys for a few birdies and stayed under 9 and in the top 60 of the FedEx Cup Fall.
For Keegan Bradley’s US Ryder Cup players, Griffin and Russell Henry had hot hands on Thursday, but they didn’t appear to be heading that direction early. The winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational have launched the Procol Championship with back-to-back bogies, along with US Open Championship JJ Span and PGA Championship and Open Winner Scotty Schaeffler.
“I haven’t played much with Scotty, but that was good…and I think that’s Keegan’s goal. “He clearly knows I don’t play much with him.
It seemed that Henry’s sputtering had come out of the gate. A reliable right hand ran 10 birdies (just after the four bogey bogey start) and ran to enter the clubhouse with a 7-under 65.
Meanwhile, Spaun tried his best to keep up with his US teammates and settled at 67, but the world’s No. 1 raised the rear with that trio surprisingly. Schaeffler was his usual self, mainly from the tee to the green, but faced green adversity, where he bleed multiple strokes into the field.
It all came to Schaeffler’s opening 70, which ended in his sub-70 round streak. Schaeffler had tied Patrick Cantray with 21 straight rounds at the end of the tour championship.
“I think it was a pretty frustrating day overall,” Schaeffler said. “It felt like I did a few things there. I just couldn’t get a reward. Yeah, that’s pretty much it for my purposes.”
As for other celebrities, both Sahith Theegala and Akshay Bhatia enjoyed solid performances matching the 68. The rest of the US Ryder Cup team hovered on par with finishing the first 18 holes in the same place where the English of Cantrey, Morakawa and Harris began the tournament.
