Corales Puntacana Championship Round 1: Todd Clements and Ivan Cantero Gutierrez Tame the Wind

The Open was across an ocean, the wind was up in Punta Cana, and two DP World Tour grinders who had just missed the cut in Kentucky decided this was the week to feel at home.

Todd Clements and Ivan Cantero Gutierrez each shot 7-under 65 on Thursday to share the first-round lead at the Corales Puntacana Championship. Six players sit one shot back at 6 under: Austin Eckroat, Alejandro Del Rey, Johannes Veerman, Mackenzie Hughes, Jonathan Byrd and Gordon Sargent. Behind them, a 10-man pack at 5 under includes Blades Brown, Nick Dunlap, Chan Kim and Italy's Filippo Celli and Stefano Mazzoli. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab).

A New Slot, the Same Wind

After years in the spring, Corales moved to July as the opposite-field stop during Open Championship week, the fourth Additional Event of the PGA TOUR season. It is co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour, and about 50 of that tour's players are in the field. The winner gets 300 FedExCup points and a PGA TOUR card, and that last part is what makes this week matter so much to the Europeans.

The course did not change its personality just because the calendar did. The Tom Fazio design at Puntacana Resort and Club plays to 7,670 yards at par 72, with six holes along the water and the closing three-hole stretch known as the Devil's Elbow. Gusts reached 22 mph on Thursday, which kept the scoring honest even on a layout that is wide off the tee.

Clements Starts Fast and Stays Happy

Clements came out sprinting. The Englishman birdied the first three holes, gave one back at the fifth, then picked up two more at the seventh and eighth to turn in 32. Birdies at the 10th, 12th, 13th and 15th pushed the card to 8 under before the par-3 17th cost a shot in the morning session. Nine birdies, two bogeys, and the lowest score of his PGA TOUR career by two shots, per Golf Today.

This is his first look at the Corales course, and the setting seemed to agree with him. "I just think the whole place is just an enjoyable place to be," Clements said, per the AP. He also called himself delighted with the way he played, while admitting there were a few tweaks to work on in the afternoon.

Clements' only DP World Tour title came at the 2023 Czech Masters, and he sits outside the top 100 on the Race to Dubai, per the DP World Tour.

Cantero Gutierrez Shrugs Off a Rough Open

If Clements was the smooth start, Cantero Gutierrez was the recovery story. The Spaniard began on the back nine and bogeyed his first two holes, the 10th and 11th. That is how a windy round gets away. Instead, he made four straight birdies from the 13th, added another at the 18th to turn in 33, then birdied the first, fourth, seventh and eighth coming home for a 32. Nine birdies over his final 16 holes, his lowest round on the PGA TOUR, and his first time at the top of a TOUR leaderboard after 18 holes. It came in only his fifth career PGA TOUR start, and like Clements, he sits outside the top 100 on the Race to Dubai.

The Crowd at 6 Under

The group one back is a fun mix of résumés. Eckroat, a two-time PGA TOUR winner, went bogey-free a few days after tying for 30th at the Genesis Scottish Open, where Eckroat had been chasing a spot in the Open field. Eckroat framed this week as a chance to bank points with the season winding toward its final stretch. "Huge going into the rest of the season. A lot of points available, good momentum," Eckroat said.

Sargent also went bogey-free. Hughes made an eagle at the fourth. Del Rey, a DP World Tour winner last season in Ras Al Khaimah, made seven birdies against a single bogey at the 11th, and Veerman matched that seven-birdie count with one dropped shot. Byrd posted the same 66.

Chan Kim shot 30 on the front nine before a 37 on the back. Brown is playing as a Special Temporary Member. And the Italian pair of Celli and Mazzoli both opened in 67, giving Italy two players two back of the lead.

Stars and Survivors

Brandt Snedeker, the U.S. Presidents Cup captain, shot 70. Snedeker already won an opposite-field event in Myrtle Beach in May, so the veteran knows exactly how these weeks work. Joel Dahmen, who led after each of the first three rounds here last spring before it slipped away, opened with 71.

Defending champion Garrick Higgo shot even-par 72. Higgo won the 2025 edition by one after Dahmen bogeyed the final three holes, as we covered in our 2025 final-round recap. No player has ever won this event twice, so Higgo has history to beat on top of a seven-shot deficit.

Sangmoon Bae, playing on a sponsor exemption in a first TOUR start of 2026, opened with 77. Bae has been trying to get back on track since completing mandatory military service in South Korea about a decade ago.

What Friday Brings

Two co-leaders, six players one back, and 10 more two back. That is not a leaderboard, that is a queue. The cut arrives Friday, and neither co-leader had ever held a first-round lead on the PGA TOUR before this week. The PGA TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab) has more from the opening day.

What we know after Thursday: two players who left Kentucky early have turned Punta Cana into their reset button, and 16 others are close enough to take it from them.

Sources: PGA TOUR (AP round recap, tournament preview and leaderboard), AP, DP World Tour, Golf Channel, Golf Today. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.