Thomas Walsh grabs first-round lead at Compliance Solutions Championship

Things to know

• Third-year Korn Ferry Tour member Thomas Walsh cards a 9-under 63 to take the outright first-round lead.
• Six players sit one stroke off the lead at T2, including former Oklahoma Sooner Logan McAllister.
• Five players played the first round bogey-free.
• This is the second playing of the Compliance Solutions Championship at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Oklahoma.
• Second-round tee times will begin at 7 a.m. local time.

First-round lead notes

• 0: First-round leaders/co-leaders to win the Compliance Solutions Championship
• 0: First-round leaders/co-leaders to win on Tour in 2024

Charting the leader

Thomas Walsh (leader/9-under)

• Carded a 9-under 63, matching the 18-hole low score for the event (Davis Chatfield, Josh Creel; R2/2023)
  • Rolled in 10 birdies on the day (Nos. 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18) against one bogey (No. 1)
• Making his second career start at the Compliance Solutions Championship (2023/T62)
• Marks the third lead or co-lead after the first round of his Korn Ferry Tour career; fifth lead or co-lead after any round
  • Most recently held the 18-hole lead at the 2024 Astara Chile Classic presented by Scotiabank; finished T11
• Best finish on the season came in the form of a T3 at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard in Bogotá, Colombia, where he held the outright 54-hole lead
• Currently sits No. 44 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List
• In his third season on the Korn Ferry Tour, he has made 53 career starts with five top-10s and a runner-up
  • Best career finish was a T2 at the 2023 Price Cutter Championship presented by Dr. Pepper
• Turned professional in 2019 and played primarily on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica during the 2020 season where he logged three top-25 finishes in seven starts
• Played collegiately at the University of Virginia for four seasons (2015-19), winning two individual titles including the 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, earning 2018 All-American third-team recognition

Quotables

Thomas Walsh on his first round 9-under 64: “Yeah, I hit it well for the first time in a while. Kind of been battling injury for two months now. I got a tip last week to kind of help ease my wrist pain in my setup and just kind of the first day I went around pain free in two months, so I felt free for the first time in a long time.”

Walsh on how his wrist injury changed his swing:“I just changed the way I set up. Looked back on some old videos pre wrist pain and tried to find some things that would take some pressure off my left wrist. We found two things in particular that helped and I didn't have pain two days ago when I tried it out. It's kind of been back to my normal fade and not worry about it for the first time in a while, so it's been nice.”

Logan McAllister on his bogey-free 8-under 65:“I think I did a good job just keeping it in front of me. I maybe missed three fairways. The greens are pretty soft, but just coming out of the rough is just difficult enough that it's harder to make birdies, so I was playing from the fairway pretty much all day. And then I played the par 5s really well minus No. 17. All in all, it was a good day and excited to see a good start.”

McAllister on having a home event:“Yeah, we're on five in a row, so to be able to come home for the sixth one, I stayed home and slept in my own bed. That's something that makes me feel a little bit more refreshed. Hopefully, as the week goes on, as I would normally start to get a little bit more worn out probably, I think that's where it makes the biggest difference is being able to be home, like I said, sleep in my own bed, cook my own food in my own kitchen, stuff like that.”

Notes

• Sweden’s Pontus Nyholm (T2/-8), who’s finished inside the top 25 in three of his last four starts, opens the week with a bogey-free 8-under 64
  • Nyholm enters the week at No. 45 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List with four top-25 finishes and a top-10
• Second-year member William Mouw (T2/-8), who finished T21 at last year’s Compliance Solutions Championship, matches his career-low opening round score with an 8-under 64 (117th VISA Argentina Open presented by Macro)
  • Recorded his best career finish at last week’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open Benefitting KU Wichita Pediatrics (T2)
• Jackson Suber (T2/-8) cards an 8-under 64 to end the day in a tie for second, topping his previous best position after an opening round this season (LECOM Suncoast Classic/T4)
• Former Oklahoma Sooner and Oklahoma City native Logan McAllister (T2/-8) chipped in for birdie on No. 18 to cap off a bogey-free 8-under 64 at his former home course
  • McAllister made his first career major start in last week’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club (MC)
  • The former first-team All-American finished No. 3 in 2022 PGA TOUR University Rankings to earn his initial status on the Korn Ferry Tour
• Argentinian Tano Goya (T2/-8) cards his lowest round in a Korn Ferry Tour event since the 2022 Visit Knoxville Open (64/R4) and lowest in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event since 2023 (World Wide Technologies Championship)
• Roberto Díaz (T8/-7) rolls in nine birdies (Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 9, 11, 12, 14, 17) on the day against one double bogey (No. 8) en route to a 7-under 65, tying his low round of the season
• Coming off a T41 Finish in the U.S. Open, Frankie Capan III (T8/-7) turns in an opening round 7-under 65
  • The second-year Korn Ferry Tour member currently sits No. 10 on the Points List with four top-10 finishes in 13 starts this season; he had three top-10s in 22 starts all of last year
• Brent Grant (T8/-7), who finished T21 at the 2023 Compliance Solutions Championship, matches his lowest opening-round score of the year with a 7-under 65 (LECOM Suncoast Classic)
• Ada, Oklahoma, native Andre Metzger (T14/-6), making his sixth start of the season, posts a 7-under 65, playing his second nine at 6-under
  • Metzger aims to make his second cut of the season (Astara Chile Classic presented by Scotiabank/T44)
• BYU Cougar Cooper Jones (T14/-6), who is playing on a sponsor exemption this week, records an opening round 6-under 66 in his first career Korn Ferry Tour start
  • Jones earned a sponsor exemption for this week through the PGA TOUR’s Pathway to Progression by winning the inaugural Bridgestone Collegiate Invitational at Silverado Country Club in Napa, California.
• Five players finished the first round bogey-free: Nyholm, McAllister, Wil Bateman (T21/-5), Cody Blick (T21/-5) and Austin Greaser (T37/-4)
• 118 of the 156-player field finished the first round under par