SAFEWAY OPEN: Three guys share top spot

photo courtesy golf.com: Brendan Steele had an eagle, six birdies and a bogey en route to an opening round of 65 at the Safeway Open on Thursday

By Jeremy Harness

After a two-week offseason, the 2017-18 PGA Tour season is off and running, as of Thursday.

The first stop of this campaign is none other than Northern California, for the Safeway Open, and there were plenty of players shooting low scores and vying for the lead at Silverado Golf Club.

In fact, there were three players who claimed a share of the top spot after Thursday’s first round after shooting a seven-under 65, including defending champion Brendan Steele.

The only blemish on Steele’s scorecard on Thursday is a bogey at the par-4 sixth hole, but that followed an eagle at the par-5 fifth that saw him stuff his second shot from 200 yards out to just outside of two feet.

He bounced right back three holes later with a birdie at the par-5 ninth and played a flawless back nine with back-to-back birdies at the 13^th and 14^th holes and running off three birdies in a row to close out his round in style.

Tyler Duncan had a fantastic start to his round, holing out his approach shot from 119 yards for an eagle at the par-4 10^th hole before birdieing holes 16 through 18, just as Steele did. Also as was the case with Steele, he suffered only one bogey on his round, his coming at the ninth, as he had trouble from within 70 yards and paid for it.

Tom Hoge, meanwhile, played a clean round on Thursday, recording seven birdies without a single bogey on his card. He made most of his headway on his first nine, starting on the 10^th hole and knocking down six birdies on that side and joining the other two co-leaders with birdies at holes 16 through 18.

His final birdie of the day came at the par-4 sixth, knocking down a 12-footer to do it.

Right behind them are four more players sharing the fourth position at five-under, including 2015 champion Emiliano Grillo, who played a bogey-free round after five birdies on his first nine but did not make a single birdie on his second nine.