Birdies were flying in Round 1 of the Wyndham Championship, with six scores of 63 or better on the par-70 layout. Joel Dahmen leads the way after posting a 9-under 61 with 10 birdies, one shot clear of Alex Noren, who sits at 8-under.

The key to low scores at Sedgefield Country Club begins with putting the ball in the fairway. The last five winners of this event ranked inside the top 20 in Driving Accuracy, and four of the five finished the week inside the top eight. Round 1 further proved this point, with 13 of the top 17 players hitting at least nine fairways. Ben Griffin got the memo, leaving the driver alone in his opening round of 67.

While Dahmen may surprise you as the first-round leader, his game fits this model perfectly. He entered the week eighth in Driving Accuracy and second in Proximity to the hole. His precision game was on point in the opening round as well. He hit 10 fairways and 16 greens in regulation, ranking second for the day in proximity. The struggle for Dahmen this season has been the putter. He entered this week 153rd on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting. However, Round 1 was a different story. He holed four putts outside of 10 feet, including a 45-footer for birdie at the par-3 seventh. He’s unlikely to gain 3.5 strokes putting again this week, but his precision should keep him in the mix going forward.

Aaron Rai, who is looking to become the first back-to-back winner of this event since Sam Snead in 1956, has what it takes to keep the ball in the short grass all week. He hit 10 fairways in the opening round and found the intermediate cut twice. This allowed him to take advantage of his accurate iron play. He hit 17 of 18 greens and ranked fifth in proximity to the hole, en route to a 7-under 63. This is likely to continue because he ranks second on the PGA TOUR in Driving Accuracy for the season. It’s no surprise that he is now the betting favorite at +550 according to oddsmakers at FanDuel Sportsbook.

Updated odds to win the Wyndham Championship (via FanDuel)

• +550: Aaron Rai
• +850: Alex Noren
• +1200: Cameron Young, Joel Dahmen
• +1600: Jordan Spieth, Nico Echavarria
• +2000: Sungae Im

Christiaan Bezuidenhout put together an excellent opening round of 5-under 65. Just four back of the lead, he’s in a good position to make a move. Bezuidenhout hit 11 fairways and 16 greens, gaining 2.34 strokes to the field with his approach play. Coming into this event, he has gained strokes to the field in eight of his last 10 events approaching the green, while ranking 36th in Driving Accuracy for the season. He shot 65 without much help from his putter, gaining just 0.56 strokes on the greens. Look for an uptick in his putting, as he gained strokes to the field in five of his last six events on the greens. There's some value in his current odds of +2800.

Further down the odds board at +9000, you’ll find Chris Kirk, who opened his championship with a 4-under 66. Kirk hit all 18 greens in regulation and led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach. He gave himself eight birdie opportunities inside of 12 feet, but only made four of them. He lost 2.32 strokes to the field with the putter. Hopefully, the worst of his putting struggles this week are behind him, and if that’s true, expect a big run up the leaderboard for the remaining three rounds.

Scoring in the second round may be slightly more challenging in the morning, with wind gusts expected to reach 16 mph. The afternoon weather, however, is more unpredictable, with chances of thunderstorms starting around 2:00 p.m. ET. If these storms miss, scoring will be low. If the afternoon wave is forced to play Saturday morning, though, they will face the highest wind gusts of the week, reaching 22 mph. All three players above have afternoon tee times in Round 2. I am willing to wager that they will get this round in, and those players will take advantage of the lighter winds. If the storms hit, however, they will only have the advantage of softer greens Saturday morning while battling the breeze.