Los Angeles (AFP) – Rafa Cabrera Bello, who needed a special exemption to get into the Wyndham Championship, made the most of it by shooting a 63 to grab a share of the lead.
Spain’s Cabrera Bello and American Kevin Na both shot seven-under-pars at the Sedgefield Country Club course in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“I asked a couple of months ago for an invite,” Cabrera Bello said. “It was my pleasure to be here.”
Cabrera Bello is fresh off a fifth place finish in the Rio Olympics.
“I’ve had a couple days rest and today was continuation of the good feelings,” Cabrera Bello said.
The hectic recent schedule didn’t faze the Spaniard, who arrived in North Carolina Tuesday morning after leaving Brazil on Monday night.
“I would have wanted to win a medal, but given how it turned out it was a very good week,” he said.
“Coming into this week, I felt the game was good, just needed a bit of rest.
“Last week was a more tiring week than a regular week, but it’s Thursday and I made it to my tee time at seven in the morning. I’m fine with the schedule.”
Cabrera Bello, who was in the first threesome group of the day, began on the backside and covered that at four-under before completing his bogey-free round.
The 32-year-old posted an eagle on the par-five fifth hole with a seven-foot putt.
Na also had a bogey-free round. He had pars on the last three holes.
“It was nice to see a lot of putts go in,” Na said. “It’s usually over the years been my strong part of game, but I felt like I really found something.”
Danny Lee, Luke Donald, Derek Fathauer, Brandt Snedeker and Peter Malnati all finished at five-under. Donald played the last five holes in four-under, including a hole-in-one on number 16.
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