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Danny Lee flirted with shooting a magical 59, but settled for a 9-under 62 to grab the first-round Mayakoba Golf Classic lead at El Camaleon Golf Course.
“Something about this course that just suits my eye very well,” Lee said.
Lee, 29, did most of his damage on the front nine, posting a 7-under 29, which tied his career-low nine-hole score. Lee made a birdie on the first hole, and then after a pair of pars, his putter warmed up.
He played Nos. 4-8 in 6 under, including an eagle at the par-5 fifth hole. That streak is the longest birdie-eagle streak in the tournament’s 13-year history. It was shades of 2014 for Lee, when he strung together seven birdies in a row on the front nine in the fourth round.
“Just one of those days, I felt like I can make anything today,” said Lee, who took 26 putts in all.
This time, Lee kept the momentum going with birdies at Nos. 11 and 12 to get to 10 under and thoughts of 59 began floating in his head, especially as he eyed a 15-foot downhiller to climb to 11 under at No. 14.
“I really wanted to make that birdie putt,” Lee said.
Maybe too much. He gunned it through the break and missed the 3-foot comebacker for his lone bogey of the day. That took some of the wind out of his sail and he finished with four straight pars coming home.
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Lee’s round, which was played under preferred lies due to heavy rain the past few days that prevented play on Thursday, threatened the course record of 10-under 61 held by Roland Thatcher. The El Camaleon course has always been a favorite of Lee’s. He was the runner-up here last year and finished T-3 in 2014. According to the PGA Tour, he has shot 29 on the front nine twice in 18 career rounds at El Camaleon and has never broken 30 anywhere else in 666 rounds.
“I can only take positives from today’s round,” he said.
Lee, who has one career Tour title, entered this week on a roll, having finished second at the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges and T-10 at the Zozo Championship in Japan.
Lee’s 62 on Friday was one stroke better than Adam Long and Brendon Todd, winner of the Bermuda Championship two weeks ago, who missed a 5-foot birdie putt at the last to tie Lee.
“It was pretty getable,” said Long, who notched a career-best nine birdies on a day when the average score was 69.5. “The Tour did a great job of moving some of the tees up where the fairways were really saturated, so it was a lot of wedges. You had a lot of shots from 100 to 140 yards, so if you’re hitting those in there tight, making some putts, you can definitely make a lot of birdies.”
That was the case for Todd, 34, who shot a final-round 62 to win the Bermuda Championship and picked up right where he left off on Friday with one of seven bogey-free rounds.
“I proved in Bermuda that I can kind of get into that mentality where I can go low again, and I basically started the day and said let’s try and birdie every hole,” Todd said. “I knew it was going to be soft and there’s going to be birdies out there.”
Chris Baker, a rookie who missed the cut in his first four events, stuck an old putter in the bag in Bermuda, where he tied for 31st. He made the biggest charge Friday among the afternoon wave.
Baker didn’t need the help of his putter on two occasions, chipping in for eagle at No. 13 and birdie at No. 14. He caught Lee at 9 under before two late bogeys and signed for 64 (a personal-best in seven career Tour starts) and a share of fourth with, among others, Zach Johnson.
Defending champion Matt Kuchar carded two double bogeys en route to a 2-under 69.
After Thursday’s wash out, the first round was delayed 30 minutes on Friday while the course was being prepared.
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