Austin Smotherman fired a bogey-free 9-under 62, including six straight birdies in the middle of his round, to take the first-round lead at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches on Thursday in Florida.
Smotherman, who has made 47 of 81 cuts in his career but never pocketed a tournament championship, had a great deal of success on the greens, saving par a couple of times and making some longer shots. The PGA credited him with 132 feet of putts made.
"The length of putts that I was making was nice to see, but I also felt like I hit a lot of good putts," Smotherman said. "The par save on 15 to kind of keep things going, a par save as well on 6 after a bad lag putt, that kind of kept things going."
He also credited a two-week break for helping his game.
"I came out here today excited to play," he said. "I'm glad I was an early tee time today, too, not having to wait around and maybe see other guys doing what they're doing. But I just wanted to get on the golf course.
"Felt like the game was in a good spot."
Nico Echavarria of Colombia sits one back after a 63, while a six-man group featuring Taylor Moore, Jackson Suber, Kevin Roy, Daniel Berger, Norway's Kristoffer Reitan and Sweden's Pontus Nyholm rounded out the early chase pack with 4-under 67s.
Echavarria rallied from a slow start to his 2026 season, in which he has managed to miss the cut in four of five tourneys.
"The golf hasn't been that far off," Echavarria said, "I could tell today that having patience and just enjoying it out there was going to be the key for the day, and we did that."
Recent PGA Tour returnee Brooks Koepka never found much rhythm in his Florida return. He was 4-over for his last six holes, including a double bogey on the par-3 17th, and ended up with a 3-over 74 that left him buried in a tie for 98th heading into Friday.
David Ford's card was the opposite of steady. After starting his round on the back nine, Ford took a disastrous quadruple bogey at the 17th that saw him take multiple shots while standing in water. He then erased the damage in a hurry by holing out for eagle on both the 2nd and 3rd holes to finish at 1-over 72 in a tie for 68th.
"Yeah, it was silly," Ford said. "It's an uphill battle, but if I play the way I know I can, then I think I can at least finish up near the top of the leaderboard."