GREENSBORO, N.C. - The go-low parade Thursday at Sedgefield Country Club was led by Harold Varner III, Tom Hoge and Roger Sloan as each shot an 8-under-par 62 to share the first-round lead at the Wyndham Championship, the PGA Tour's final regular-season event before the FedEx Cup playoffs begin.
Harris English was close behind them, alone in fourth with a 64 that had a him a stroke ahead of a crowd tied for fifth. The Baylor School graduate, coming off a top-20 finish Sunday at the PGA Championship, opened his round with a trio of birdies and made four more on the back nine to offset his lone bogey on the par-3 12th hole, where he missed a seven-foot putt for par.
All three Baylor graduates on the PGA Tour are in the field, and Luke List was tied for 25th at 3 under with three holes to play when the round was suspended due to bad weather - 33 golfers were still on the course at the time - with Keith Mitchell (71) tied for 107th.
Also, at the Korn Ferry Tour's Albertsons Boise Open, former Baylor and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga standout Stephan Jaeger opened with a 6-under 65 that included an eagle and had him tied for fourth, three shots behind first-round leader Tommy Gainey.
Varner had an eight-birdie, no-bogey round to match his career best on the PGA Tour. Hoge and Sloan played together later in the round, with Hoge matching his career low in a PGA Tour career that began in 2015 and Sloan's score his personal best.
Hoge looked like he might have a shot at 59 after he went eagle-birdie on the 15th and 16th holes to reach 9 under. However, he missed a 10-footer for birdie on the 17th before his only bogey on No. 18 to drop into the tie.
None of the co-leaders has ever won a PGA Tour event. Varner, who went to high school about two hours away in Gastonia and went to college at East Carolina, was disappointed he couldn't play in front of friends and family due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
"It's unfortunate this year, because I enjoy the cheers and stuff," he said. "But we'll get through this year and figure it out. Yeah, it's just good to be close to home."
Crowded atop senior leaderboard
AKRON, Ohio - Steve Stricker birdied the final hole for a 2-under 68 and a share of the lead in the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship, the PGA Tour Champions' first major of the season.
"Didn't hit it all that good, though. I scraped it around, got it up and down a lot," said Stricker, who offset his lone bogey with a trio of birdies. "But a good score certainly."
Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jerry Kelly, Rod Pampling and Wes Short Jr. joined Stricker atop the leaderboard at Firestone Country Club's South Course, the longtime site of a PGA Tour event and later a World Golf Championship tournament.
Paul Broadhurst was the only other player to break par, shooting a 69.
Two forced to withdraw in Wales
NEWPORT, Wales - Alexander Levy became the first golfer to test positive for the coronavirus at a European Tour event and was one of two French players who had to withdraw on the opening day of the Celtic Classic.
Belgium's Thomas Pieters shot a 7-under 64 in his first competitive round in five months to take the lead on the latest stop of the tour's six-week U.K. Swing, but the bigger talking point came off the course.
Levy came into contact last weekend with a friend in France who has since tested positive for the coronavirus, the tour said in a release.
When Levy arrived at Welsh tournament venue Celtic Manor Resort, he tested negative. He was told to isolate for 14 days and has since returned a positive result in a retest.
Hours later, officials said Romain Wattel had been identified as having had contact with Levy in Wales after the tour and local health authorities used track and trace. He was also retested and returned a negative result, as did Levy's caddie.
Still, Wattel had to withdraw because of local health guidelines.
Pieters birdied four of his last five holes - including the 17th, where he chipped in from off the green - and was a stroke clear of Australia's Jake McLeod, who closed with an eagle, and England's Toby Tree.
Kang four behind in Scotland
NORTH BERWICK, Scotland - Danielle Kang started her bid for a third straight win on the LPGA Tour with a par round of 71 at the Ladies Scottish Open, leaving the American four shots off the clubhouse lead held by Nicole Broch Larsen.
Kang bounced back from bogeys on Nos. 3 and 4 by making birdie at the par-5 10th and then the last hole at an event that is being played without spectators and in an isolated environment at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick.
Kang has made a fast start during the LPGA Tour's resumption during the coronavirus outbreak, winning the Drive On Championship and the Marathon Classic the past two weekends to climb to No. 2 in the world ranking.
Broch Larsen made six birdies in total, including on the final two holes, for a 65 that put her a stroke clear of five players. One of those tied for second was Broch Larsen's Danish compatriot, Emily Kristine Pedersen, along with American pair Amy Olson and Jennifer Song, Azahara Munoz of Spain and Olivia Cowan of Germany.
Of the 144 women in the field, 27 had yet to complete their round when play was suspended because of darkness.
The event marks the resumption of the Ladies European Tour after a six-month break and comes a week before the first women's major of the year, the British Open at Royal Troon.
It is the first international event on the LPGA Tour since the Women's Australian Open in February.