Pierceson Coody claims 18-hole lead at Price Cutter Charity Championship

Things to Know

Two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Pierceson Coody cards a 9-under 63 to claim his first career outright 18-hole lead

Jeremy Paul records an 8-under 64 and sits inside the top 10 after 18 holes for the fourth time this season

In his fourth career start, Yuxin Lin tallies three eagles en route to a first-round 64 and sits one shot off the lead

Parker Coody, twin brother of Pierceson, records his 28th consecutive round under par on the Korn Ferry Tour

There were three holes-in-one recorded on three different holes Thursday

- Wil Bateman, 151-yard par-3 No. 6

- Johnathan Brightwell, 160-yard par-3 No. 13

- Patrick Fishburn, 150-yard par-3 No. 15

Second-round tee times will run from 6:55 a.m. through 2:27 p.m. local time off the first and 10th tees

First-Round Lead Notes

9: First-round leaders/co-leaders to win Price Cutter Championship presented by Dr Pepper

- David Kocher (2022), Max McGreevy (2020), Martin Trainer (2018), Cameron Percy (2014), Andrew Svoboda (2013), Steve Friesen (2011), Colt Knost (2008), Doug LaBelle II (2006), Patrick Sheehan (2002)

1: First-round leaders/co-leaders to win on Tour in 2023

- Nicholas Lindheim (T1) – The Ascendant presented by Blue

Pierceson Coody (Leader/-9)

Rolled in 10 birdies, the most by any player Thursday, against one bogey for a first-round 9-under 63

- Ten birdies came at three par 5s (Nos. 1, 8, 11), six par 4s (Nos. 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 16) and one par 3 (No. 13)

- Lone bogey of the day came at the 151-yard par-3 sixth

Claims the first 18-hole lead of his career (making 26th Korn Ferry Tour start this week)

Marks a new low round of the season and tied for the second-lowest round of his Korn Ferry Tour career (best: 9-under 62, R2/Live & Work in Maine Open)

Despite having two career wins, this marks just his third time inside the top 10 after 18 holes

- T4 at 2023 UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH (missed cut)

- T10 at 2022 The Ascendant presented by Blue (finished T30)

Entered the week No. 15 on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List

- In 14 Korn Ferry Tour starts this season, has logged four top-25 finishes, including two inside the top 10, highlighted by his win at The Panama Championship

Two-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour with one in each of his first two seasons on the Tour

- 2023 The Panama Championship – entered the final round in T24 position before a final-round 4-under 66 earned him a spot in a three-man sudden death playoff with Mac Meissner and Sam Saunders; birdied the first playoff hole to claim his second win on the Tour

- 2022 Live & Work in Maine Open – in just his third start on the Korn Ferry Tour, Coody led by as many as seven strokes during the final round, eventually claiming a five-stroke margin of victory

Has made seven starts on the PGA TOUR during the 2022-23 season, resulting in three made cuts and one top-25 finish, a T14 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard

Played collegiately for four seasons at the University of Texas (2018-22), where he helped Texas win its fourth national title at the 2022 NCAA Championships

Garnered three All-America honors, including first-team selections in 2021 and 2022, along with a second-team laurel in 2020, and was named 2021 Big 12 Conference Player of the Year

Finished No. 1 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2022, earning Korn Ferry Tour status for the remainder of the 2022 season

In his rookie season on the Korn Ferry Tour last year, made 11 starts and logged three top-25 finishes, highlighted by the victory in Maine; finished the regular season 32nd on the Points List

In 25 total starts on the Korn Ferry Tour, has seven top-25 finishes, with five inside the top 10

Quotables

Pierceson Coody on his first-round 9-under 63… “That was kind of the first time in a while that my game's kind of felt natural. It felt – I don't want to say easy because golf's never easy – but birdies just kept coming my way. I'd get good looks, good swings. I had one bogey, probably chasing a pin a little too much just because I felt like I had things going my way. But I guess on a course like this – where you know guys are going to shoot 6-, 7-, 8-under every round – you've just got to play your game and hope that the birdies fall your way.”

Coody on finding his form… “The last few months have been probably some of the toughest stretch of my professional career. I just haven't hit it well, haven't chipped it that well. When you're not hitting it that well, you're short sided, you're not making putts. I just kind of felt a little bit of a mental funk like things aren't going my way. I feel like I've been trying to dig myself out of this hole and this is a good first step to kind of going in the right direction again.”

Coody on playing in the same group as Jeremy Paul who sits T2… “It certainly helps you kind of once you get low and you see another guy going low, it's kind of like a game within a game of, ‘all right, I know you're towards the top of the leaderboard and I'm towards the top of the leaderboard but I want to finish out on top.’ It certainly helps out the group going in a good direction.”

Notes

Jeremy Paul (T2/-8) carded an 8-under 64 with nine birdies against one bogey, and he sits inside the top 10 after 18 holes for the fourth time this season

- Marks a new low round of the season and his lowest in any start on the Korn Ferry Tour since a first-round 8-under 63 at the 2022 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank

In just the fourth start of his career, rookie Yuxin Lin (T2/-8) sits inside the top 10 for the first time after any round

- Lin eagled three of the four par 5s (Nos. 1, 11, 18) at Highland Springs Country Club, and added three birdies against one bogey for a first-round 8-under 64, a new career low round

- Lin, who finished No. 10 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2023, has one made cut in his previous three starts, a T15 at the Compliance Solutions Championship last month

Rob Oppenheim (T4/-7), making his fifth start of the season, led all players in the morning wave with a 7-under 65

- Oppenheim made the turn at just 1-under par after two birdies (Nos. 10, 11) and a bogey at the par-4 17th in his first nine holes; he played his second nine holes at 6-under par with four birdies (Nos. 1-3, 7) and an eagle at the par-5 eighth

Ashton Van Horne (T4/-7) records his lowest first-round score relative to par with a 7-under 65, made up of four birdies, two eagles and one bogey; in 16 starts this season, Van Horne has just two made cuts, with his best finish being a T32 earlier this month at the Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS

Bo Hoag (T4/-7), who won medalist honors at Final Stage of last year’s Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying tournament, is inside the top 10 on the leaderboard for the first time after any round this season

Parker Coody (T4/-7), coming off a career best solo-third finish at last week’s The Ascendant presented by Blue, opened with a 7-under 65, marking his 28th consecutive round under par on the Korn Ferry Tour

- His last round over par came in the final round of the Veritex Bank Championship in April

- In his first season on the Korn Ferry Tour, Coody has three top-10 finishes in 12 starts this year

Patrick Fishburn (T8/-6) opened the first round with a bogey on the par-5 first, his only bogey of the day, before bouncing back with five birdies and a hole-in-one at the par-3 15th for a first-round 6-under 66

There were nine bogey-free rounds Thursday, which included Logan McAllister (T8/-6), Alex Chiarella (T8/-6), Joel Thelen (T8/-6) and rookie Yuto Katsuragawa (T8/-6), who all sit T8 at 6-under par

- McAllister, in his second season on the Tour, notched the first top-25 finish of his career in this event last season by placing T20

- Katsuragawa is one of five players who entered the week ranked inside the top 200 in the Official World Golf Rankings: Alejandro Tosti (No. 155), Pierceson Coody (No. 158), Ben Silverman (No. 175), Ben Kohles (No. 185), Yuto Katsuragawa (No. 190)

Sponsor exemption Everett Whiten Jr. (T48/-3), the only amateur in the field, is making his third ever start on the Korn Ferry Tour and opened with a bogey-free first-round 3-under 69