Van der Walt and Roach share lead as play suspended at Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance

NEWBURGH, Indiana – Opening-round play in the Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance was suspended due to darkness at 7:25 p.m. CT after play was halted earlier in the day due to thunderstorms.

Dawie van der Walt, who played in the day’s fourth grouping off of No. 1, recorded a bogey-free 64 to hold a share of the un-official overnight lead on a course he deemed “too hard” heading into Friday’s resumption of play. He’s tied with current PGA TOUR member Wes Roach heading into round two of the $1 million event.

Starting on the first hole at demanding Victoria National Golf Club – serving in its second year as Tour Championship host – van der Walt opened with four straight pars before going on a mid-round tear, notching five birdies between Nos. 5 and 10 to reach 5-under on the day.

The South Africa native, who played collegiately at Lamar University in Texas, kept his foot on the proverbial gas with follow-up birdies on 12, 13 and 15 to hit 8-under on a golf course more familiar with disaster than red figures.

The three finishing holes at Victoria National have traditionally played as some of the more demanding holes on Tour, but damp and windless conditions presented a docile finish to van der Walt’s round, as three straight pars – thanks to an up-and-down on 18 – gave way to a first-round 64.

“I didn't miss a shot until the 18th hole, which is what you've got to do around here,” he said. “You can't fake it around this place, you've just got to hit good shots, you've got to ball strike it around here.”

The round was a welcome respite from a stretch of tough golf for van der Walt, and marked his lowest score on Tour since a third-round 63 at The King & Bear Classic in June.

The 37-year-old is making the 165th start of his Korn Ferry Tour career this week. From 2012 through 2015, he posted two victories and three runner-up finishes, but has yet to card a top-two effort since that stretch.

The 2015 season served as a breakout campaign for van der Walt, who won the Chile Classic and Price Cutter Charity Championship en route to a second-place finish on the season-long money list. That torrid season delivered the first PGA TOUR card of his career, but in 25 starts as a rookie during the 2015-16 season, he notched just one top-25 – a T17 at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

Since then, he has played solely on the Korn Ferry Tour, with a top-10 finish in each of his last three seasons, including a T8 at this year’s Utah Championship.

While van der Walt reached No. 43 on the points list earlier this month, he entered the week at Victoria National on the heels of three straight missed cuts.

“Honestly, I don't know if I was just a little bit tired. I mean, I've been playing every week. You know, it's hot out here and since Portland I just didn't have a lot of grind left,” he said. “I guess me taking a week off after missing a couple of cuts, (allowed me to) get some rest. I did practice hard and it paid off today.”

A 74-73—147 effort at last week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship gave van der Walt the weekend off and a chance to arrive early in Evansville, and those extra days paid dividends on Thursday.

“I drove over here on Saturday and then Sunday I was like one of the only guys out here. I hit a bunch of balls in this heat. I practiced Saturday in Columbus, too, hit a lot of balls,” he said. “My ball striking has been a little bit off, so I was just trying to figure that out and get it back on track.”

Roach posted his 8-under 64 in the afternoon wave, playing in the last grouping to finish on No. 18 as the horns blew to suspend play.

The former Duke University golfer stood at 2-under through eight holes when play was suspended due to inclement weather earlier in the day. Following the delay, he promptly hit his second shot on the par-5 ninth from 240 yards to a foot, setting up an easy tap-in eagle to jumpstart his round.

“Yeah, you know, I just wanted to put it up there somewhere near the green, try to make four, and got a pretty good bounce. I think it kind of landed in the rough and trickled on the green,” said Roach. “I was surprised to see it up there that close, but that certainly was a nice way to kind of get the restart going again.”

Roach notched birdies on 10, 12, 15 and 17 to round out a 4-under 32 on the closing nine, joining van der Walt atop the leaderboard as darkness faded throughout Evansville.

The 31-year-old Roach is making just his fourth start on the Korn Ferry Tour this year after failing to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs on the PGA TOUR. In the midst of his fourth full season on TOUR, he’s made 14 starts – with two top-10 efforts to his name – but only three appearances since the Return to Golf following the pause in play related to Covid-19.

While the TOUR is crowning a FedExCup Champion in the 2019-20 season, the eligibility for the 2020-21 season will carry over, enabling Roach to likely secure more starts moving forward this fall and into the next year.

“I'm kind of in a tough spot with I didn't play as well on the PGA TOUR out of the restart here from the quarantine, but fortunately I'll keep some status out there and hopefully get some starts this fall,” he said. “I would like to play as much as I can out there in the fall, but hopefully I'll get another seven or eight starts between both tours before the end of the year.”

Seth Reeves and Greyson Sigg are tied for third, one shot back of the co-leaders after matching rounds of 7-under 65.