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Career day helps Hughes on Tour

The Associated Press

CROMWELL, Conn. — Mackenzie Hughes shot a career-low 60 Thursday to take the first-round at the Travelers Championship as the PGA Tour tried to switch its focus back to golf amid growing concerns about the coronavirus.

Hughes, a 29-year-old Canadian, had a chance to shoot the 12th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history, but his 40-foot birdie attempt on his final hole came up short. Jim Furyk shot a 12-under 58 on the same TPC River Highlands course four years ago, the lowest score in a tour event.

“I kind of joked walking off there that 59 wasn’t even the record because of Jim’s 58,” Hughes said. “It’s probably not even that special around here. But as a personal milestone it would have been neat.”

It was good enough for three-shot lead over Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland, who each shot 63 on a day of low scoring.

Phil Mickelson, paired with McIlroy in his first competitive round since turning 50, was one of six players to shoot 64. Bryson DeChambeau’s 65 was the worst score in the marquee threesome.

There were 106 players who broke par. The record for a day at TPC River Highlands was in 2011, when 111 players were 1-under or better in the second round.

Hughes’ bogey-free round included a 30-foot birdie putt on his second-to-last hole, the par-3 eighth. Patrick Cantlay was the last to shoot 60 at TPC River Highlands as an amateur in 2011.

McIlroy, who also started on the back nine, eagled the par-5 13th and followed that up with two straight birdies. He made four more birdies on the front nine for a 31.

“It’s just been nice to get back into some competitive golf again,” McIlroy said. “You know, it doesn’t feel the same because you’re not having thousands of people reacting to your birdies and getting that going. I felt the weekends have been a little flat for me just because that’s when you’re in contention and that’s where you sort of start to feel it. Thursdays and Fridays don’t feel that different to be honest, but into the weekends they do.”

Mickelson learned earlier Thursday that he was granted an exemption into this year’s U.S. Open for being in the top 70 in the world on March 15, when golf was shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“That worked out great, to be able to know that I have a chance to go back to Winged Foot and give it another shot,” said Mickelson, who finished second at Winged Foot in 2006 after a double bogey on the 72nd hole. “But I’ve had 30 U.S. Opens. I’ve had plenty of opportunities, and so if I don’t qualify, I want somebody else who deserves a spot, too, to play. As long as I’m playing well enough to compete to earn my way into the field, then I want to play and keep trying to win that tournament.”

FIRST ROUND

Mackenzie Hughes 31-29–60

Rory McIlroy 31-32–63

Xander Schauffele 31-32–63

Viktor Hovland 33-30–63

Michael Thompson 32-32–64

Phil Mickelson 32-32–64

Tyler Duncan 33-31–64

Sergio Garcia 31-33–64

Seung-Yul Noh 32-32–64

Louis Oosthuizen 30-34–64

Russell Henley 32-33–65

Tyler McCumber 30-35–65

Bryson DeChambeau 33-32–65

Brian Stuard 31-34–65

Rafa Cabrera Bello 33-32–65

Sung Kang 34-31–65

Cameron Davis 31-35–66

Jon Rahm 32-34–66

Shane Lowry 33-33–66

Patrick Cantlay 35-31–66

Brendon Todd 35-31–66

Lanto Griffin 32-34–66

Marc Leishman 35-31–66

Sam Ryder 33-33–66

Chris Stroud 36-30–66

Lucas Glover 35-31–66

Scott Stallings 32-34–66

Kevin Streelman 34-32–66

Kevin Na 33-33–66

Patton Kizzire 32-34–66

Harold Varner III 34-32–66

Will Gordon 33-33–66

Brian Gay 34-33–67

D.J. Trahan 34-33–67

Ryan Palmer 35-32–67

Brandt Snedeker 35-32–67

Abraham Ancer 35-32–67

Ryan Armour 33-34–67

Keegan Bradley 34-33–67

Adam Long 35-32–67

Denny McCarthy 33-34–67

Emiliano Grillo 31-36–67

Patrick Rodgers 31-36–67

Cameron Percy 33-34–67

Charley Hoffman 33-34–67

Tom Hoge 36-31–67

Danny Lee 35-32–67

Richy Werenski 33-34–67

Roger Sloan 36-31–67

Wesley Bryan 32-35–67

Jordan Spieth 31-36–67

Jason Day 33-34–67

Justin Rose 33-34–67

Ian Poulter 34-33–67

Hunter Mahan 35-32–67

Ryan Moore 34-33–67

Joel Dahmen 35-32–67

Henrik Norlander 33-35–68

Byeong Hun An 34-34–68

Xinjun Zhang 32-36–68

Matthew Wolff 36-32–68

Aaron Wise 37-31–68

Grayson Murray 33-35–68

Troy Merritt 35-33–68

Danny Willett 31-37–68

Si Woo Kim 35-33–68

Sungjae Im 34-34–68

Mark Hubbard 33-35–68

Scott Harrington 34-34–68

Kevin Chappell 33-35–68

Tony Finau 34-34–68

Zach Johnson 34-34–68

Joaquin Niemann 34-34–68

Stewart Cink 35-33–68

Doc Redman 36-32–68

Branden Grace 35-33–68

Sam Burns 36-32–68

Rob Oppenheim 34-34–68

Talor Gooch 34-35–69

Sepp Straka 37-32–69

Lucas Bjerregaard 34-35–69

Brice Garnett 35-34–69

Jim Furyk 34-35–69

Paul Casey 34-35–69

Keith Mitchell 30-39–69

Bud Cauley 36-33–69

Carlos Ortiz 36-33–69

Zac Blair 34-35–69

Hank Lebioda 34-35–69

Joseph Bramlett 35-34–69

Robert Streb 34-35–69

Kyle Stanley 36-33–69

Bronson Burgoon 34-35–69

Bubba Watson 37-32–69

Dustin Johnson 35-34–69

Tim Wilkinson 34-35–69

Cameron Smith 33-36–69

Brendan Steele 33-36–69

Greg Chalmers 34-35–69

Luke Donald 34-35–69

Aaron Baddeley 36-33–69

Kyoung-Hoon Lee 35-34–69

J.J. Henry 33-36–69

Scott Brown 35-34–69

Bo Hoag 34-35–69

Sahith Theegala 35-34–69

Matt Every 37-33–70

James Hahn 36-34–70

Scottie Scheffler 36-34–70

Billy Horschel 37-33–70

Chez Reavie 33-37–70

Patrick Reed 35-35–70

Michael Kim 34-36–70

Sebastian Munoz 35-35–70

Matt Wallace 35-35–70

Vaughn Taylor 33-37–70

Matthew NeSmith 36-34–70

Cameron Tringale 36-34–70

Robby Shelton 35-35–70

Brian Harman 35-35–70

J.T. Poston 36-34–70

Gary Woodland 32-38–70

Jason Kokrak 35-35–70

Jamie Lovemark 36-34–70

Matthew Fitzpatrick 34-36–70

Harry Higgs 36-35–71

Jhonattan Vegas 36-35–71

Austin Cook 40-31–71

Max Homa 37-34–71

Fabian Gomez 34-37–71

Wyndham Clark 38-33–71

Hudson Swafford 36-35–71

Kevin Kisner 35-36–71

Justin Thomas 37-34–71

Dylan Frittelli 37-34–71

Charl Schwartzel 39-32–71

Luke List 36-35–71

C.T. Pan 39-33–72

David Hearn 36-36–72

Sebastian Cappelen 36-36–72

Adam Schenk 38-34–72

Collin Morikawa 37-35–72

Ted Potter, Jr. 39-33–72

Kevin Tway 36-36–72

Corey Conners 38-35–73

Peter Malnati 35-38–73

Beau Hossler 33-40–73

David Pastore 37-36–73

Peter Kuest 36-37–73

Matt Jones 34-40–74

Bo Van Pelt 37-37–74

Davis Love III 38-36–74

Russell Knox 36-38–74

Vijay Singh 38-37–75

Martin Trainer 39-38–77

J.J. Spaun 41-37–78

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