Thomas Walsh leads LECOM Suncoast Classic upon suspension of first round

LAKEWOOD RANCH, Florida – Thomas Walsh opened the LECOM Suncoast Classic with an 8-under 63 in Thursday’s partially-completed first round, securing the clubhouse lead at Lakewood National Golf Club. Walsh’s 63 marked his career low-round on the Korn Ferry Tour and put him one stroke ahead of three players tied at 7-under par upon suspension of play.

Play was suspended due to darkness at 6:35 p.m. ET, as nine players had holes remaining in the first round. One of the nine was Albin Choi, playing this week via Korn Ferry’s sponsor exemption, who recorded three eagles and was 7-under through 15 holes. Choi tied the 18-hole tournament scoring record last year with a 9-under par 62 in the first round.

The 25-year-old High Point, North Carolina native only made two pars on his first nine holes, the back nine of the Lakewood National Golf Club’s Commander course. Walsh began the day with consecutive birdies at Nos. 10 and 11, followed them with his only bogey of the day on the par-4 12th, and bounced back with three consecutive birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 15.

Walsh notably birdied four of the five par 3s (Nos. 7, 13, 15 and 17) on the par-71 setup.

“It feels good,” Walsh said. “I played well. It was actually pretty easy, the wind died down towards the end. It was windy. The guys in the morning probably had the most wind. I just putted well all day today. I had three or four 4-irons today, especially on par 3s. I was just hitting that 4-iron really solid today.”

After turning professional in 2019, Walsh went through the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, but a T114 at Final Stage left him without guaranteed starts and buried in the priority ranking. The 2020-21 season for Walsh consisted of Monday qualifiers and seven events on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, where he logged three top-25s.

“I learned I have to get out of the gate as fast as possible,” Walsh said of his time chasing Monday qualifiers. “I haven't carried that into this year. I've gotten out of the gate extremely slowly and my caddie, Nate, and I actually talked about that quite a bit last week. Instead of trying to press the issue, just relaxing into the middle of the greens and letting some putts roll. They were rolling early and then we just kind of kept with that all day.”

Walsh returned to Final Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament last November and finished T14 for guaranteed starts in the first eight events this season. Through the first four events, Walsh’s first made cut came at last week’s Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard, where he finished solo 69th.

“I feel like I played really well down there, but I didn't get anything out of it,” Walsh said. “I putted, I thought, fantastic. But I struggled on those greens down there, and here, they just run pure. So I was sitting on my money lines and they were going in. Down there, I think I was getting in my own head.”

Walsh has one parent among the crowd this week cheering him on, while the other awaits a different kind of celebration: a new addition to the family, a baby niece.

“We're waiting for the news,” Walsh said of his sister, Molly, who was due yesterday. “We're all anxiously waiting. My dad's here but my mom is up there waiting, because that's way more important than this.”

The first round will resume at 7:45 a.m. ET, and second-round tee times running from 6:55 a.m. through 1:56 p.m. ET off the first and 10th tees.