Nicholas Lindheim leads by one at Club Car Championship

Things to Know

Two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Nicholas Lindheim cards bogey-free 7-under 65 and is in line for his third 18-hole lead/co-lead in 122nd career start on Tour (T1 at 2014 Stonebrae Classic/finished T8; T1 at 2017 DAP Championship/Won in playoff)

Lindheim leads four players standing T2 at 6-under par; the group includes PGA TOUR winner and two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Lanto Griffin and two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Kris Ventura

Lindheim, who earned a PGA TOUR card via the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Finals, is making his first PGA TOUR-sanctioned start since October 2022 (Shriners Children’s Open) in preparation for a return to the PGA TOUR

Rookie Jacob Solomon stands T2 after season-low round of 6-under 66, highlighted by hole-in-one at the 197-yard par-3 17th hole, the sixth hole-in-one in tournament history and the first at No. 17

Korn Ferry Tour rookie and two-time PGA TOUR Latinoamérica winner Alejandro Tosti records season-low round of 6-under 66 to stand T2

Armstrong State University alum and Augusta, Georgia native (now playing out of Aiken, South Carolina) Shad Tuten makes six birdies against two bogeys for 4-under 68 and stands T8; he finished T3 at the 2021 Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club

The first round was suspended due to darkness at 7:37 p.m., with 21 players still needing to complete their round; the first round will resume in position Friday at 8:15 a.m., while second-round tee times will run from 7:25 a.m. through 2:46 p.m. off the first and tenth tees

First-Round Lead Notes

1: First-round leaders/co-leaders to win Club Car Championship (Dan McCarthy, 2019)

0: First-round leaders/co-leaders to win on Tour in 2023 (last: David Lingmerth/2022 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship)

Nicholas Lindheim (1st / -7)

Makes seven birdies – three on par 4s (Nos. 5, 11, 16), two on par 3s (Nos. 2, 12), two on par 5s (Nos. 3, 14) – en route to bogey-free 7-under 65

Cards his lowest opening round in a Korn Ferry Tour event since 2018 Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance (7-under 64) and ties his lowest opening round relative to par on Tour in his 122nd career start (2014 Stonebrae Classic/7-under 63)

Making first PGA TOUR-sanctioned start since 2022 Shriner’s Childrens Open on the PGA TOUR; logged missed cuts in his only two starts since earning a PGA TOUR card last September via the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Finals

Previous Korn Ferry Tour wins are 2016 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank (2-stroke victory over J.J. Spaun), 2017 DAP Championship (defeated Chesson Hadley and Rob Oppenheim in playoff)

In 19 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, recorded 15 made cuts, a season-high finish of T6 (LECOM Suncoast Classic), and five top-25s, including two in the three Korn Ferry Tour Finals to secure a return to the PGA TOUR

Previously earned or retained PGA TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2022

Won twice on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica (2014 and 2015) while playing the Korn Ferry Tour

Did not take up golf until 2003 at age 19 and turned professional in 2006, after which he moved to Florida

Quotables

Nicholas Lindheim on returning to competition after five months off with a back injury… “I had herniated and bulging disks, and the inflammation was so bad and it was just basically smashing on my nerve. I never had that kind of pain, like that shooting, sharp pain where you kind of screech when you make the wrong step or sit down a weird way. I've seen a lot of players through the years who take time off and it's a tough road back. It is early in the week… the way that I played today I'm very pleased with and I think anybody in the field would be pleased with the way that I played.”

Nicholas Lindheim on his last five months… “I got my TOUR card in the fall of last year and from there I didn't play the first event of the year. I was pretty burned out. I played Sanderson Farms, in Vegas, and I was in Bermuda. I was there, I played a practice round and I woke up Thursday morning for my tee time, had to take a ferry ride over on this wooden box seat and I had to lift my bag up and I couldn't even lift my bag. I want to say Bermuda was in October. I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure it is. This is my first tournament back.”

Shad Tuten on his excitement playing in this event… “I haven't played in any PGA TOUR events, but this is my major. This is the one that I look forward to. This is the one that I prep for. Obviously living in Savannah for a long time, it's a second home for me and obviously I still have a lot of friends here. I love it here and the golf course suits me.”

Notes

World No. 191 Lanto Griffin (T2/-6), winner of the PGA TOUR’s 2019 Cadence Bank Houston Open and one of five players in the field inside the top 200 of the Official World Golf Ranking, makes second start of 2023 Korn Ferry Tour season and stands inside the top five after the first round for third time in his 53rd career Tour start (T1 at 2018 Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker

Foundation/finished T2; T4 at 2019 Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna/finished T4)

Griffin’s two Korn Ferry Tour victories came at the 2017 Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation and 2019 Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Championship

Kris Ventura (T2/-6), who won twice in only 11 starts en route to finishing No. 4 on the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Points List and earning a PGA TOUR card, is playing this season with “Past Champion 3-4 Years” status; he finished T7 in the last event (Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard) for a guaranteed spot in this week’s field

At T2, Ventura ties his career-high 18-hole position on the Korn Ferry Tour (T2 at 2020 Korn Ferry Tour Challenge at TPC Sawgrass/finished T4)

Rookie Jacob Solomon (T2/-6), who finished T17 at Final Stage of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament for guaranteed starts in the first eight events of 2023, is coming off three consecutive made cuts and boasts a season-high finish of T17 (The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club)

Rookie Alejandro Tosti (T2/-6), who finished No. 5 in the 2021-22 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Totalplay Cup Standings and finished T29 at Final Stage of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament in the first eight events of 2023, has two made cuts (T22, T31) in four starts this season

Sponsor exemption Ian Holt (T48/-1) follows Solomon’s hole-in-one at No. 17 with an ace at the 189-yard par-3 second hole, the seventh hole-in-one in tournament history and second at No. 2

Defending champion T.J. Vogel and 2019 champion Dan McCarthy both open in 1-under 71 and stand T49, while 2020 champion Evan Harmeling opens in 2-over 74 and stands T108

Conditional member Jay Card III and University of Minnesota alum Angus Flanagan (both T8 / -4) lead the eight open qualifiers in this week’s field

Open qualifier Anthony Purcea, a 16-year-old amateur from Buford, Georgia, opens with 1-over 73 and is T96