Bowditch off to Great Start at Byron Nelson


Australia's Steven Bowditch fired an 8-under 62 to take the first-round lead at the AT&T Byron Nelson. The $7.1 million PGA Tour event started Thursday at TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas.

The 31-year-old Bowditch, winner of last year's Valero Texas Open, carded eight birdies and no bogeys for a two-stroke lead over Texan Jimmy Walker and three over James Hahn and Ryan Palmer.

Though he hails from Australia, Bowditch has been a resident of the Dallas area - where he met his wife - since coming to the U.S. 10 years ago. "I basically threw a dart at the map when I first came over here in 2005," he told PGATour.com, "and then ended up marrying me a Texan, so I'm stuck now."

Trailing Bowditch by four are Tom Gillis, John Merrick and Keegan Bradley.

Crowd favorite and Dallas native Jordan Spieth posted a 1-under 69. The 21-year-old carded two birdies and a bogey. "Not a whole lot you can do with only two birdies in the round," the 2015 Masters champion and No. 2-ranked player in the world admitted.

Defending champion Brendon Todd posted a 72 on the par-70 course.

Chris Kirk, who won last week's Crowne Plaza Invitational in Fort Worth, isn't playing this week.

The shot of the day was made by Danny Lee when the New Zealander aced the par-3 17th hole. The 2008 U.S. Amateur champion carded another eagle on the par-5 seventh hole - along with two birdies and three bogeys - to join a big group starting with 67s.

For updated scoring, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.