Cognizant Classic Round 1: Austin Smotherman Rattles Off Six Straight Birdies for a 62

PGA National is supposed to make you earn it. On Thursday, Austin Smotherman made it look like a practice round.

Smotherman shot a bogey-free 9-under 62 on the Champion Course to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. Nico Echavarria set the morning pace with a 63 and sits alone in second at 8 under. Then comes a big gap: six players are tied for third at 4-under 67, a full five shots off the lead. Taylor Moore, Jackson Suber, Daniel Berger, Kevin Roy, Kristoffer Reitan and Pontus Nyholm make up that group.

Six in a Row

The round turned into something special in the middle. Smotherman rolled in a 28-foot birdie putt at the seventh and simply kept going, stacking six consecutive birdies from No. 7 through No. 12. A tap-in birdie at the par-5 18th capped it.

The putter did the heavy lifting. Smotherman made more than 132 feet of putts, gained over three strokes on the greens and hit 17 greens in regulation, according to CBS Sports. That is a nice stat line on any course. It is a borderline absurd one for a player who is experimenting this week by putting with no alignment line on the ball, a test Smotherman described as an attempt to be freer with the stroke and more of an artist on the greens.

"It was a pretty easy round," Smotherman said, per the AP, "on a golf course that shouldn't be this easy."

A Familiar Number, an Unfamiliar Spot

The 62 matched Smotherman's career low, also shot in the first round of the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship. It is the seventh round of 62 or better at PGA National since this event moved here, putting Smotherman on a short list that includes Jake Knapp's 59 from last year, 61s by Matt Jones and Brian Harman, and a closing 62 from Tiger Woods in 2012.

The history at this stop is not exactly encouraging, which makes Thursday more striking. In Smotherman's only previous appearance, in 2022, rounds of 70 and 76 meant a missed cut by four. Smotherman has led after the first round once before on TOUR, at the 2023 Mexico Open, and is still chasing a first win after 81 starts. Thursday was a statement. It was not a trophy.

Echavarria Sets the Early Mark

Before Smotherman got rolling, Echavarria owned the day. The Colombian posted a bogey-free 63 in the morning wave and led the field in strokes gained: putting, per CBS Sports. Echavarria said patience and simply enjoying the round were the keys.

What stands out is how alone that score was. No other morning starter went lower than 67. Moore and Suber were the next best early, and the afternoon wave added Berger, Roy, Reitan and Nyholm to the 4-under logjam.

A Softer PGA National

Part of the story is the grass. PGA National was overseeded with rye over its Bermuda this year, which makes the place look greener on television and play softer underfoot. The scoring history shows how much that matters. Mark Wilson won the first edition here at 5 under, and 11 of the first 14 winners finished worse than 10 under. The last five winning totals have run 12, 10, 14, 17 and 19 under.

Billy Horschel, who shot 2-under 69, called it a very fair golf course that becomes a real test in the wind and a gettable one on calm days like Thursday. Horschel also took a swipe at the overseeding.

"People want it to look pretty on TV, and if it looks pretty on TV, maybe people will want to come play it," Horschel said, per the AP.

The breeze picked up in the afternoon, a reminder of how quickly this place can change.

Koepka's Putter, Ford's Rollercoaster

Brooks Koepka's return to the PGA TOUR continued to be a work in progress. Koepka shot 3-over 74 and sits tied for 98th, undone by a late slide that included a double bogey at the par-3 17th from about five and a half feet. A 36-foot birdie at the sixth was a bright spot, but the putter remained a problem. Berger, a playing partner, said Koepka can turn it around in an instant.

Shane Lowry, who has a deep track record at this course, opened with a 1-under 70 and is tied for 36th, eight shots back. It was a choppy card that included three dropped shots before the turn.

The wildest card belonged to David Ford. Ford found trouble at the 17th, the heart of the Bear Trap, and made a quadruple bogey, then answered with eagles on the second and third holes to finish at 1-over 72. Elsewhere, Will Zalatoris withdrew before the round with a left ankle injury.

Defending champion Joe Highsmith, who won here last year after making the cut on the number, is back in the field to defend.

What Friday Asks

There are no players from the world's top 25 in this field, which makes this a rare opening for someone like Smotherman or Echavarria to grab a big week on the Florida Swing. The cut comes Friday, the wind is a variable, and the Bear Trap is still waiting at Nos. 15 to 17.

One round in, the question is not whether 62 was real. It was. The question is whether Smotherman can keep the putter feeling this free when the course stops being this kind.

Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab) has more details.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 1 recap and leaderboard), AP, Golf Channel, CBS Sports, RTÉ. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.