Defending champion Aaron Rai looks poised to offer a stiff defence of his title after shooting eight birdies in the opening round at the Wyndham Championship.
The Englishman sits two shots behind leader Joel Dahmen after a confident display on Thursday at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Rai bogeyed his fifth hole, but recovered immediately with a birdie and followed it with seven more.
Rai sits seven under par in a tie for third with world No 44 Cameron Young, Mark Hubbard and Nico Echavarria – and one shot behind Swede Alex Noren.
“Played really well tee to green,” said Rai. “Drove it very well. If I missed a fairway, I think I was in the first cut. Didn’t really miss too many in the thick of stuff, which was important.
“Iron play felt really consistent, really solid. Felt like I putted nicely within kind of 10 feet. Had a lot of looks inside that range, which is rare really to have a round which is that good tee to green. So it was nice to kind of keep making those putts and keep the round moving in the right direction.”
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Aaron Rai is in contention at the Wyndham Championship
Rai admitted that last year’s triumph in the tournament has come into his mind, but wants to remain focused on the task at hand.
“Today, naturally there were a couple of moments were memories from last year came back to me, which was incredible. It’s nice to just let those come when they come,” he said.
“It’s important to stay extremely focused, especially on a course like this. It presents a lot of opportunities, but it can catch you out very fast so kind of have to be careful of drifting off too much. But it was really nice being out there. Yeah, just recalling a couple of the shots from last year over the last few days.”
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