KK Limbhasut, Chandler Blanchet share lead at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay

The first round was suspended due to darkness at 5:43 p.m. ET and will resume Monday morning at 7 a.m. with 22 players needing to complete the first round. Second-round tee times will run from 6:45 a.m. through 1:25 p.m. off the first and 10th tees.

Weather: Partly Cloudy. High of 82. Wind SE 3-10 mph.

First-Round Leaderboard

KK Limbhasut 64 (-8)
Chandler Blanchet 64 (-8)
Rhein Gibson 65 (-7)
Max McGreevy 65 (-7)
Mason Andersen 65 (-7)
Two players tied 66 (-6)

Things to know

• KK Limbhasut and Chandler Blanchet are tied atop the leaderboard after matching 8-under 64s, one-shot ahead of a trio of players at 7-under
• For Limbhasut, it would mark his first lead of any kind in his 45 career Korn Ferry Tour starts
• Blanchet tied his career-low round on the Korn Ferry Tour and is also bidding for his first lead/co-lead
• Two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Rhein Gibson records a bogey-free 7-under 65
• Second-year member Mason Andersen birdies three of his final five holes to reach 7-under par
• This week’s season-opening The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay is making its seventh appearance on the Korn Ferry Tour schedule, with 2017 being the inaugural playing

KK Limbhasut (Co-leader/-8)

• Carded a bogey-free 8-under 64 with eight birdies
  • Birdies came at three par 5s (Nos. 1, 9, 18), four par 4s (Nos. 4, 8, 14, 16) and one par 3 (No. 11)
• Ties career low on the Korn Ferry Tour (64/R1/2021 UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH)
• Making the 45th Korn Ferry Tour start of his career this week
• Has not sat inside the top three on the leaderboard after any round in his Korn Ferry Tour career (best: T4, most recently after R1 of 2021 UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH)
• Earned 2024 Korn Ferry Tour status after clinching medalist honors at Second Stage of 2023 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, guaranteeing starts for the first eight events of the season
• Played primarily on the All Thailand Golf Tour and Asian Development Tour in 2023
• Made seven starts on the Korn Ferry Tour over the 2022 and 2023 seasons, with his best finish being a T47 at the 2023 LECOM Suncoast Class
• Logged three starts on PGA TOUR Canada from 2021-22 but made just one cut
• Initially joined the Korn Ferry Tour during the 2020-21 season with conditional status, but quickly improved his priority ranking with back-to-back top-15 finishes in his second and third starts of the season (T12 at El Bosque Mexico Championship by INNOVA; T10 at Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass)
  • Finished the 2020-21 season with six top-25 finishes in 37 starts and ranked 94th on the season-long Korn Ferry Tour Points List
• As an amateur, was a member of the International Team at the 2018 Palmer Cup where he won three of his four matches and was teammates with PGA TOUR members Viktor Hovland and Harry Hall
• Played collegiately at the University of California-Berkeley from 2014-19 and was an individual medalist four times, as well as a four-time All-Pac-12 honoree
  • College teammates with PGA TOUR winner Collin Morikawa from 2015-19
• Born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand and now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada
• At the age of 14, moved with his dad from Thailand to Loma Linda, California

Chandler Blanchet (Co-leader/-8)

• Carded a bogey-free 8-under 64 with eight birdies
  • Birdies came at two par 5s (Nos. 1, 9), four par 4s (Nos. 7, 8, 16, 17) and two par 3s (Nos. 6, 11)
• Bidding to clinch the first lead/co-lead of his Korn Ferry Tour career (previous best: T3 after each of the first three rounds of the 2020 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank)
• Making his 53rd career start on the Korn Ferry Tour this week
  • Has seven top-25 finishes and two top-10s, with his best career finish being is a T4 at the 2020 LECOM Suncoast Classic
• Won the 2023 Totalplay Cup on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica (now PGA TOUR Americas) to secure fully exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024
  • In 11 starts last year, Blanchet recorded five top-10 finishes, including two victories, en route to earning Player of the Year honors
• Played collegiately for four seasons at the University of West Florida (2014-18), winning an individual national title at the 2017 NCAA Division II Championships and the 2017 Division II Jack Nicklaus Award, presented to the top Division II golfer
  • Became the first NCAA Division II player to win the overall Golfstat Cup with his 68.76 scoring average for the 2016-17 season
  • Finished his collegiate career with 12 career wins and was co-medalist in another. In addition to being a three-time first-team All-America selection (2016-18), was a 2017 CoSIDA first-team Academic All-American honoree. Was also a three-time Gulf South Conference Player of the Year (2016-18)

Quotables

KK Limbhaust on his play in the first round… “The goal for the week is just keep the ball in play, there's a lot of penalties out here, and I was able do that all day. A lot of shots in the fairway and just made a lot of mid-range putts, a lot of 20‑footers and take advantage of the short holes.”

Limbhaust on returning to the Korn Ferry Tour… “In 2023, I didn't have any status out here, so I just went back to Thailand and spent a lot of time with family and played golf just to enjoy the game again. I've been out here since 2020 and it’s been a grind just keeping the card and always having conditional status. I just went back home, kind of refreshed things and then just got ready for Q‑School and ended up winning Second Stage. Having eight guaranteed starts helps so much to come and play freely.”

Rhein Gibson on the difficulties of the course… “It's very visually intimidating off the tee and a lot of that's wind dependent as well. You're going to face difficult shots based on wind direction on any hole during the week. So if the wind's on the left off No. 12, it's a different shot. If it's kind of off the right, it's a little easier for a righty. So you're always going to face some tough shots out there, all wind dependent.”

Notes

• Australian Rhein Gibson (T3/-7) sits one shot off the lead after carding a bogey-free 7-under 65 with five birdies and an eagle on the par-4 fourth
  • Gibson has two Korn Ferry Tour titles in his career, most recently at the 2023 astara Golf Championship, which helped him finish 40th on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List
• Max McGreevy (T3 / -7) recorded the most birdies on the day with nine en route to a 7-under 65; made birdies on two of the par 3s (Nos. 11 and 13), two par 5s (Nos. 1 and 9) and five par 4s (Nos. 4, 7, 12, 14 and 17)
  • McGreevy played in 37 events last season on the PGA TOUR and finished No. 175 in the FedEx Cup
• Second-year member Mason Andersen (T3/-7) cards a bogey-free 7-under 65 via five birdies and an eagle at the par-5 ninth
  • Andersen played all 26 events during the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season and logged 10 top-25 finishes, including four top-10s, highlighted by a runner-up at the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation
• Making his first start at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay, Chris Petefish (T6/-6) rolled in six birdies on the day (Nos. 1, 4, 6, 13, 15, 17) to post a bogey-free 6-under 66
  • Petefish logged three top-10 finishes in 2023 to finish No. 45 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List
• Joshua Creel (T6/-6) recorded seven birdies on the day, against one bogey, including four straight on Nos. 15-18 to conclude his opening round with a 6-under 66