The first round was suspended due to darkness at 6:29 p.m. and will resume Friday at 7:30 a.m., with 10 players needing to complete the first round.

Ian Holt and Stuart Macdonald are tied for the lead at The Panama Championship in Round 1 as play is suspended for darkness.

Charting the co-leaders (stats entering week)

Ian Holt (T1/5 under)

• Cards seven birdies and two bogeys en route to 5-under 65, his best score in five career rounds at The Panama Championship (previous: 67/Round 1, 2025)
• In line to hold second 18-hole lead/co-lead in a Korn Ferry Tour event (2025 Blue Championship/finished T12)
• Won the previous Korn Ferry Tour event – The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club – for his first Korn Ferry Tour title
• Finished No. 42 on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, earning full status for the 2026 season
• Recorded a T54 finish at the 2025 Panama Championship, his only previous appearance in the event
• Fourth season with Korn Ferry Tour membership (2019, 2023, 2025); he previously finished No. 150 on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List as a rookie
• Finished No. 10 on the 2024 PGA TOUR Americas Points List, earning Korn Ferry Tour membership for 2025
• Began the 2024 PGA TOUR Americas Season with conditional status and open qualified into his season debut at the 2024 Times Colonist Victoria Open, the eighth event of the season; he recorded back-to-back top-25 finishes and won his third start at the 2024 Explore NB Open, which propelled him to a top 10 finish on the 2024 PGA TOUR Americas Points List
• Turned professional in 2018 and played four seasons on PGA TOUR Canada (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022)
• Played four seasons at Kent State University (2014-18), where he earned three collegiate victories, including medalist honors at the 2018 Mid-American Conference Championship, and was named the MAC Golfer of the Year in 2017 and 2018

Stuart Macdonald (T1/5 under)

• Cards six birdies prior to a closing bogey at the par-4 18th en route to 5-under 65, his lowest score in 15 career rounds at The Panama Championship (previous: 68/Round 2, 2025)
• In line to hold first 18-hole lead/co-lead in a Korn Ferry Tour event in what is his 104th career start on the Tour
• Finished No. 43 on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, earning full status for the 2026 season
• Runner-up finisher at the 2025 Tulum Championship at PGA Riviera Maya, where he forced a playoff with a hole-out birdie from the fairway of the 72nd hole of regulation (lost to Bryson Nimmer in playoff)
• Regained Korn Ferry Tour membership with a No. 10 finish on the 2024 PGA TOUR Americas Eligibility Points List
• In three previous seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour prior to 2025, recorded Korn Ferry Tour Points List finishes of No. 181 (2018), No. 60 (2020-21), and No. 118 (2022)
• Recorded a T42 at the 2020 Panama Championship, his best finish in four previous starts at the event
• Boasts two PGA TOUR-sanctioned wins: 2023 Commissionaires Ottawa Open (PGA TOUR Canada), 2024 Diners Club Peru Open (PGA TOUR Americas)
• Turned professional in 2016 after four seasons at Purdue University (2012-16)

Additional notes

• Mason Andersen (T3/4 under) and Kevin Velo (T6/3 under) previously won Korn Ferry Tour events contested in Latin America, with Andersen winning the 117th Visa Argentina Open in February 2024, and Velo winning the 2024 Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard in Bogota, Colombia.
• Caleb VanArragon (T3/4 under), who finished No. 56 on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Points List as a rookie, recorded top-20 finishes in the first two events this season (T13/The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island; T17/The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club).
• Korn Ferry Tour winner Spencer Levin (T3/4 under) is in line to stand inside the top five through 18 holes of a Korn Ferry Tour event for the first time since the 2023 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open (T2/finished T61).
• Four-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Ben Kohles (T6/3 under) and Korn Ferry Tour winner Julian Suri (T6/3 under) were the only two players to complete bogey-free rounds, while Jorge Garcia (T6/3 under) has not made a bogey through 15 holes of his first round.