LOS ANGELES – World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler started limbering up for the US Masters with a bogey-free five-under 65 that put him one off the first-round lead shared by Taylor Moore and Wilson Furr at the Houston Open on March 28.

Moore shook off an opening bogey with an eagle and five birdies in his six-under 64 at Memorial Park Golf Course.

He was joined atop the board by 276th-ranked Furr, who played his last five holes in four-under with an eagle at the fifth and birdies at the eighth and ninth to close his round.

Scheffler, trying to become the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win three consecutive PGA Tour starts, had set the pace for much of the day as he shook off “a little rust” from his week off last week.

Scheffler missed the green at his first three holes but got up and down for par at each before rolling in a 12-foot birdie putt at the 13th.

He added birdies at the 17th, second, third and fifth holes, and while he hit just 11 of 18 greens in regulation, he needed just 25 putts.

“I had a solid round,” Scheffler said. “Bogey-free is always nice, especially around a golf course like this. It’s nice to be able to keep the card clean.”

It Scheffler’s 28th consecutive round under par to start 2024, the most on record since 1983, according to the PGA Tour.

Perhaps more importantly, Scheffler, who needed treatment on his neck on his way to victory at the Players Championship, said he was feeling good in his final tune-up for the Masters.

“Neck’s feeling better, body feels good,” Scheffler said. “The off week was good for me to get some rest, get some rehab. I took a couple more days off than I typically would last week, so it was some good recovery time.”

Scheffler’s win at TPC Sawgrass followed a five-stroke triumph at Bay Hill – his first victory in nearly a year.

He’s rounding into form with the first Major of 2024 approaching in two weeks at Augusta National, where Scheffler won in 2022.

Scheffler was tied for third with fellow Americans Davis Riley and Joe Highsmith.

Riley had six birdies and an eagle to overcome a bogey and a double-bogey, while Highsmith had six birdies and a bogey.

Moore, who came up short in his title defence at the Valspar Championship last week, shook off an opening bogey with a chip-in eagle at the third.

After three more birdies on the front nine, he birdied 15 and 16 to seize the lead.

“Hit a lot of greens,” Moore said. “After the first hole, just tried to see how many greens I could hit. Got off to a little bit of a jump start there on three, chipped in for eagle on three and birdied four. Just got into the round.”

Furr teed off on 10 and was one-under through his first nine. After a birdie at the third, he holed out from the fairway for an eagle at the fifth and closed with birdies at the eighth and ninth.

On the LPGA Tour, Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn birdied her last five holes for a nine-under 63 on March 28 to break free atop a log-jammed leaderboard after the first round of the LPGA Ford Championship in Gilbert, Arizona.

With five players in the clubhouse on eight-under, Pajaree rolled in a birdie putt at her final hole, the ninth to seize a one-shot lead over world No. 2 Lilia Vu of the United States, Spaniards Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz, Germany’s Isi Gabsa and Australian Gabriela Ruffels.

“It was a great day out there,” said Pajaree, who claimed the most recent of her two LPGA titles at last year’s LPGA Match-Play. “I actually was in the zone. I didn’t realise that I holed my fifth birdie in a row on the ninth green. But it was a great day.”

Pajaree, who matched her career low round on the LPGA tour, said she knew she had the makings of a good round after her third birdie of the day at the 18th.

“Bogey-free, came out with three-under par going into the back nine. I played some really good shots today,” she said. “Hit a lot of good drivers off the tee and gave me a lot of benefit just going into the green with short irons.

“I was able to just hit some good long irons in as well, so that helped,” she added. AFP