Will Gordon takes solo lead at inaugural Lake Charles Championship

LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana – Will Gordon opened the inaugural Lake Charles Championship with a bogey-free 6-under 65 in windy conditions Thursday, taking a one-stroke lead over four players who finished the opening round 5-under par at The Country Club at Golden Nugget.

Gordon, a 25-year-old Davidson, North Carolina native, drove the green at the 304-yard par-4 first and two-putted for the first of his six birdies. Gordon made four more birdies on the front (Nos. 3, 4, 6 and 9) for a 5-under 31, the lowest score on the front nine by anyone in the field.

“The front nine has a couple par 5s and a couple drivable par 4s,” Gordon said. “All my birdies on the front nine were inside 5 feet, and that’s just because of par 5s and some short par 4s you can take advantage of.”

On the back side, Gordon’s birdie came at the par-5 14th. An up-and-down par from just off the green at No. 18 solidified one of four bogey-free rounds completed Thursday.

“With the wind today, [the course] played how it’s supposed to,” Gordon said. “It was hard to get super comfortable today out there with the wind. It helps you stay in the moment every shot. You have to be on your game every shot with the wind the way it was. I think that helped me get into a better mentality today. I hit it better off the tee today than I have been lately. My iron game has been good, so I knew if I could get it in play off the tee, I’d have some good opportunities.”

Gordon turned professional in the summer of 2019 following a successful collegiate career at Vanderbilt University, where he was the 2019 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and a 2019 All-America First Team honoree. Following a relatively successful run on PGA TOUR Canada which featured two top-10s across nine starts, Gordon was awarded sponsor exemptions for the 2019 RSM Classic and 2020 Travelers Championship on the PGA TOUR.

Gordon parlayed a T10 at The RSM Classic and T3 at Travelers Championship into Special Temporary Membership for the remainder of the 2019-20 TOUR season. By season’s end, Gordon had enough non-member FedExCup points for TOUR membership in 2020-21. After a No. 159 finish in the 2020-21 FedExCup Standings, Gordon played the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Finals as he attempted to regain TOUR membership, but he missed all three cuts and was relegated to Final Stage of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament.

With a T19 at Final Stage last November, Gordon earned guaranteed starts for the first eight events of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour season. His best finish this year was a T6 at last month’s LECOM Suncoast Classic.

“It’s been a little bit of a rollercoaster,” Gordon said. “Getting PGA TOUR status for a year and a half, being back here, but I feel like I’m right where I’m supposed to be, and I’ve just got to embrace where I am. I’m enjoying it right now.”

Making his 62nd PGA TOUR-sanctioned start, Gordon holds an 18-hole lead for the second time in his career. The only previous occasion was a PGA TOUR Canada event, the 2019 Lethbridge Paradise Canyon Open, where he opened with an 11-under 60.

“It’s not a very big deal to me,” Gordon said. “There’s so much golf left, just continue to play my game and see where we are late Sunday. I’m just trying to better myself right now and see where I am at the end of the year.”

Play was suspended due to darkness at 7:43 p.m. local time, with four players opting to complete the final hole of their round Friday morning. Second-round tee times will run from 7:20 a.m. through 2:30 p.m. off the first and 10th tees.