Rayhan Thomas off to a fine start with 64 in Korn Ferry

Owasso (Oklahoma), Oct 3 (PTI) Indian-origin golfer Rayhan Thomas was off to a splendid start at the Compliance Solutions Championship, shooting 7-under 64 to be Tied-16th in the penultimate event of the Korn Ferry Tour where leader Davis Chatfield shot a sub-60 total of 12-under 59.

Indo-Canadian Sudarshan Yellamaraju carded 6-under 65 at The Patriot Golf Club and is now placed T-24.

Thomas had nine birdies against two bogeys in the first round. He started the day on the back nine with a birdie and went on to make six more birdies on the back nine.

Thomas, who birdied from the sixth to the ninth, added another one on the 10th to make it five in a row. A bogey on the second and the eighth with birdies in between on the fourth and the sixth, saw him get 64.

Yellamaraju began his first round on the back nine and played a bogey free first round that included four birdies and one eagle.

Three consecutive birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th holes along with a birdie on the fifth and the eagle on the first hole saw him card six under for the day.

Thomas started this week placed 106 on the Korn Ferry points list and will be looking to use the strong start to the week to break into the top 100 and earn a conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Yellamaraju is currently placed 18th on the same list and would aim for a strong finish this week to stay within the top 20 and secure his card to the PGA Tour.

Chatfield carded 12-under 59 to take the lead by two strokes. The 26 year old, chasing his maiden title, made nine birdies and an albatross in his first round. The albatross was made on the Par five 15th hole.

Zecheng Dou, Adrien Dumont de Chassart and Travis Trace carded 10-under 61 to be Tied-2 on the leaderboard. PTI Corr AT AT