Jeremy Paul leads after Round 1 at UNC Health Championship

Jeremy Paul posts an opening-round 63 and grabs the solo lead after Round 1 at the UNC Health Championship.

Charting the leader (stats entering week)

Jeremy Paul (first/-7)

• Opens with a 7-under 63 and holds the fourth 18-hole lead/co-lead of his Korn Ferry Tour career in what is his 96th start (previous: T1/2022 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank and Intermountain Health/finished T14, first/2022 UNC Health Championship/finished T19, first/2023 The Bahamas Great Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island/finished T31)
• Hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation and ranked No. 1 on the day in strokes gained (7.176)
• Has one top-25 finish in seven starts on Tour this season (T25/Astara Golf Championship)
• Earned PGA TOUR membership for the first time with a No. 21 finish on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List (top 30) off the strength of his first career victory at the season-opening 2024 The Great Bahamas Golf Classic and seven additional top-25 finishes
• Finished No. 135 in the 2025 FedExCup Fall Standings as a PGA TOUR rookie, logging six top-25 finishes over 26 starts, highlighted by a T2 at the 2025 Corales Puntacana Championship
• Third start at the UNC Health Championship, best finish came in 2022 (T19)
• Played four seasons at the University of Colorado in Boulder (2013-17), where he collected three wins and 21 top-10 finishes in 47 starts; led the team in scoring all four years and earned an All-American honorable mention honors in 2016
• Helped Germany to a 12th-place finish at the 2016 World Amateur Team Championships in Cancun, Mexico

Additional Notes

• Korn Ferry Tour winner Andrew Kozan (T2/-6), who holds conditional membership for the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour season, opens with a bogey-free, 6-under 64, his lowest round on Tour since a first-round 63 at the 2024 Veritex Bank Championship.
• Doc Redman (T4/-5), who captured his second Korn Ferry Tour victory last week at the Visit Knoxville Open, opens with a 5-under 65. The Raleigh native is one of two players with multiple wins on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Season (Ian Holt: The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic, The Panama Championship).
• Theo Humphrey (T4/-5), who is coming off his best finish of the 2026 season at the Visit Knoxville Open (T6), stands inside the top five through 18 holes for the first time since the 2021 Veritex Bank Championship (T3/finished runner-up).
• Second-year Korn Ferry Tour member Sam Choi (T4/-5) makes three consecutive birdies to conclude his round (Nos. 7, 8, 9) for a 5-under 65, and holds the best 18-hole position of his career in what is his 24th start (previous 18-hole high position: T5/2026 The Bahamas Great Golf Classic/MC).
• Nineteen-year-old Blades Brown (T8/-4), who stands No. 13 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, opens with a 4-under 66. He finished T14 at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson last week for his fifth top-25 finish on the PGA TOUR this season.