THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson Round 1: Taylor Moore Steals the Lead With a Bogey-Free 62

Brooks Koepka spent most of Thursday afternoon looking like the story at TPC Craig Ranch. Then Taylor Moore rolled in one last birdie and took it from him.

Moore closed a bogey-free 9-under 62 with a 14-footer from the fringe on the par-5 ninth, his final hole, to grab a one-shot lead after the first round of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. Koepka, who had held the clubhouse lead for hours with a bogey-free 63, sits tied for second at 8 under with Jesper Svensson. Seven players are another shot back at 64, and defending champion Scottie Scheffler is four off the pace after a clean 66.

Moore Goes Clean

Moore started on the back nine and set the tone right away, sticking an approach to 5 feet at the par-4 10th. Four birdies came on the inward half, five more on the front, and no bogeys anywhere. The 62 is the lowest round of Moore's PGA TOUR career and the fourth time Moore has held or shared an 18-hole lead on TOUR.

The Texas native, who lives in Oklahoma, has one TOUR title, the 2023 Valspar Championship, and a tie for second at the Cognizant Classic in February as the high point of an otherwise quiet season. Moore credited distance control coming into the greens and the quality of the iron shots. As for what a first-round lead means, Moore was not getting carried away, saying it was too early for the lead to change anything and that there was still a lot of golf left on this course.

That is the right instinct on a day when nobody owned the leaderboard for long.

Koepka Knocks on the Door

Koepka's 63 was the best score of the morning wave, and it came fast. Koepka holed a 13 and a half footer for eagle at the par-5 12th and was 4 under through five holes. A run of four birdies in five holes on the second nine, capped by a 3-footer at the short par-4 sixth, pushed the five-time major winner to 8 under. A par save at the ninth kept the card clean.

It was Koepka's first bogey-free opening round on TOUR since the 2023 Masters, and it came with a new putter in the bag. Koepka ranked 10th in the field in strokes gained: putting. Koepka contended at the PGA Championship a week earlier before fading on Sunday, is still chasing a first win since returning to the PGA TOUR from LIV Golf, and arrived 69th in the FedExCup with a spot in the Memorial in play through the Aon Swing 5.

"I feel like I'm knocking on the door, and I'm very, very close," Koepka said, per the AP.

There is history here too. Koepka lost a playoff to Sergio Garcia in this event in 2016, missed the cut the last time he played Craig Ranch in 2021, and said the greens are totally different now.

The 64 Logjam

Svensson matched Koepka with nine birdies against one bogey, including four in a row on the front nine, and the Swede's 63 was one shot off a career-best TOUR round.

Behind them, the board is crowded. Si Woo Kim, Keith Mitchell, Stephan Jaeger, Emiliano Grillo, Michael Thorbjornsen, Tyler Duncan and Kensei Hirata all shot 64. Kim, the highest-ranked player in the field after Scheffler, made eight birdies, four on each nine, and the lone bogey in the marquee group came on Kim's card at the par-3 seventh.

The best side story belonged to Hank Lebioda, who shot 65 with two eagles on par 4s. Lebioda holed out from 138 yards at the second and chipped in at the short 14th, only the second player on TOUR this season to eagle two par 4s in one round, according to the PGA TOUR. "Not often you get one eagle, let alone two," Lebioda said, per Field Level Media.

Scheffler Plays Catch-Up

The world No. 1 did not do anything wrong. Scheffler was bogey-free with five birdies. It just was not enough to keep up with his own playing partners, as Koepka and Kim both went lower in the same group.

Scheffler was only 2 under before making birdies on three of his last five holes to post 66.

"I felt like I was getting lapped out there for a little bit," Scheffler said, per the AP.

Last year Scheffler went wire to wire here, won by eight and tied the TOUR's 72-hole scoring record with a 31-under 253. The course has been renovated since then, and Thursday was a reminder that the redesign has not exactly taken the birdies away. The field made 25 eagles in the first round, a season high for an opening round on TOUR, with preferred lies in effect.

Who Else Is Lurking

A big group sits at 66 alongside Scheffler, including Wyndham Clark, Blades Brown, Seamus Power, Erik van Rooyen and Johnny Keefer. Tony Finau opened with 67, while Jordan Spieth, Sungjae Im and Tom Hoge each shot 68.

Friday's Assignment

On a course giving up eagles at this rate, a four-shot deficit after 18 holes is not much of a deficit at all. Moore has the lead and a career-best round in hand. Koepka has momentum and a point to prove. Scheffler, Koepka and Kim go out together again on Friday, and with the cut looming and the scoring this soft, the opening round only proved one thing: standing still at Craig Ranch is the same as going backward.

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. For a look back at last year's record-tying week, read our recap of Scheffler's 2025 win.

Sources: PGA TOUR (AP Round 1 recap and leaderboard), Golf Channel, Field Level Media, Golf Today. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.