Frankie Capan III opens in 58, Miles Russell shoots 68 at Veritex Bank Championship

Miles Russell, 15, has played five rounds on the Korn Ferry Tour. He has shot under par in each one.

Russell opened the Veritex Bank Championship in 3-under 68, playing his first 17 holes bogey-free before a three-putt bogey at the par-5 18th hole Thursday at Texas Rangers Golf Club. Remarkably, he’s still outside the projected cut line; 79 players stand 4 under or better after the opening round, with the top 65 and ties making the 36-hole cut in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

Russell, the reigning AJGA Boys Junior Player of the Year, earned his spot at the Veritex Bank Championship with a T20 at last week’s LECOM Suncoast Classic, into which the left-handed Floridian received a sponsor exemption. He validated that spot and then some with four rounds under par – 66, 68, 70, 66 – to become the youngest player to record a top-25 finish on the PGA TOUR or Korn Ferry Tour, on record (since 1983).

Russell proved Thursday that his game travels well. After opening with eight straight pars in his afternoon round, he caught fire with birdies on Nos. 9, 11, 12 and 16. Although the day ended with a disappointing three-putt bogey from 25 feet at the finishing hole, missing a 4-footer for par, he’s well within striking distance of the cut line into Friday’s second round.

Russell will begin Friday 10 strokes back of leader Frankie Capan III, who shot a course-record, 13-under 58 in the opening round, matching the second-lowest score in Korn Ferry Tour history.

Here’s more from Thursday’s opening round at the Veritex Bank Championship:

Leaderboard

Things to know

• Frankie Capan III cards 13-under 58 to tie the Korn Ferry Tour record for lowest 18-hole score relative to par, in addition to tying the second-lowest 18-hole score in Korn Ferry Tour history
• Capan makes 11 birdies – including seven in a row on his back nine – and one eagle, tying the second-most birdies and eagles in an 18-hole round (12) in Korn Ferry Tour history
• Trent Phillips cards career-low round of 10-under 61, sits three strokes off the lead in solo second
• Tim Widing, who won last week’s LECOM Suncoast Classic, opens in 9-under 62 and ties his career-low round

Charting the leader

Frankie Capan III (1st/-13)

• Cards 13-under 58 to tie the Korn Ferry Tour record for lowest 18-hole score relative to par, in addition to tying the second-lowest 18-hole score in Korn Ferry Tour history

Lowest 18-hole score relative to par in Korn Ferry Tour history

Lowest 18-hole score in Korn Ferry Tour history

• Records the 13th sub-60 round in Korn Ferry Tour history, and the sixth such round on Tour in the last 370 days Lowest Birdie-Eagle Streak Relative to Par in Korn Ferry Tour Historyo
  • April 21, 2023 – Mac Meissner / 12-under 59 / LECOM Suncoast Classic / Round 2
  • June 8, 2023 – Michael Feagles / 12-under 59 / BMW Charity Pro-Am / Round 1
  • August 27, 2023 – David Kocher / 12-under 59 / Albertsons Boise Open / Round 4
  • February 8, 2024 – Cristobal Del Solar / 13-under 57 / Astara Golf Championship / Round 1
  • February 9, 2024 – Aldrich Potgieter / 11-under 59 / Astara Golf Championship / Round 2
  • April 25, 2024 – Frankie Capan III / 13-under 58 / Veritex Bank Championship / Round 1
• Makes 11 birdies – including a streak of seven consecutive birdies from Nos. 10-16 – and one eagle at the par-5 ninth, becoming the 10th player in Korn Ferry Tour history to make 12-plus birdies and eagles in an 18-hole round, and tying the second-most birdies and eagles in an 18-hole round in Tour history (12)
  • Sam Saunders holds record for most birdies and eagles in an 18-hole round in Tour history (13 birdies/2017 Korn Ferry Tour Championship presented by United Leasing & Finance/12-under 59/Round1
• Ties the second-lowest birdie-eagle streak relative to par in Korn Ferry Tour history with 9-under par stretch from Nos. 9-16 (Eagle-Birdie-Birdie-Birdie-Birdie-Birdie-Birdie-Birdie)

Lowest birdie-eagle streak relative to par in Korn Ferry Tour history

• Holds first career 18-hole lead/co-lead in what is his 31st career start on the Korn Ferry Tour; his previous career-high 18-hole position was T2/2023 Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship/finished T11
• Previous career-low round in PGA TOUR-sanctioned play was 9-under 62/2023 Memorial Health Championship/Round 2
• Finished T30 at 2023 Veritex Bank Championship, his only previous appearance at the event
• Finished No. 51 on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List as a rookie last season, earning fully exempt status for the 2024 season
• Finished T8 at Final Stage of 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament (now PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry); he was one of eight players who advanced through each stage of Q-School, beginning with pre-qualifying, in 2022
• Played two seasons at the University of Alabama (2018-20) and two seasons at Florida Gulf Coast University (2020-22), earning one victory and garnering All-Atlantic Sun Conference Second Team honors in 2021 and 2022 while at Florida Gulf Coast
• Won back-to-back individual state titles at the Arizona Interscholastic Association Division III Championships in 2017 and 2018, winning the latter by 10 strokes off the strength of a second-round 11-under 59 on the Sonoran Desert Course at Omni Tucson National Resort

Quotables

Frankie Capan III on when a sub-60 round first entered his mind… “I'd say going to the back nine. When I turned at 6 (under par)… the front nine's playing at shorter than the back nine, so you might have a few more birdie opportunities. At the same time, I'm really just still trying to hit every shot, just stay really patient and present out there to where… it was on the radar, but I wasn't really focused too much on it. I actually forgot it was par 71. I thought it was par 72, so when I got to 13 I knew that, OK, there's 59. I shot 59 before, so I thought, you know, may as well break that. I didn't know it was par 71, but was really just trying to birdie No. 17, No. 18, but unfortunately didn't get either one. Yeah, made like an eight foot slider on 18 to shoot 58. It was pretty cool.”

Capan on his focus during the round… “I knew where I was at the whole time out there. I thought it was cool, it was fun, but at the same time like you're hitting those shots. I think that's the part I fell in love with the most is just enjoying being out there, hitting great golf shots. That to me is where I get the most joy. So instead of thinking about a number or anything like that, I just want to keep hitting great shots. Obviously going lower is a result of just staying present and hitting those great shots.”

Capan on what stuck out about his round… “I think the funny thing is I look back on my round and I actually didn't capitalize on a lot of the easy holes. Like No. 1, short par 4, didn't birdie. No. 7, really short par 4, didn't birdie. I just was always in the proper spot. I would say the best shot I hit all day, I had a 7 iron into No. 9, par 5, and hit it to like four feet. That was probably the best shot I hit, because I was in between clubs and the wind was kind of swirling off the left, so (I) was able to kind of flight a 7 iron in and stuff it in there and made eagle. It gave us a nice boost going to the back nine.

Additional Player Notes

• Trent Phillips (2nd/-10) makes three eagles (par-4 seventh, par-5 ninth, par-5 18th) and four birdies en route to bogey-free 10-under 61, usurping his previous career-low round of 8-under 62/2024 Astara Golf Championship/Round 1; he is the only player in the field with multiple eagles through 18 holes
  • Phillips is the first player with three eagles in the same round on Tour since Yuxin Lin/2023 Price Cutter Charity Championship/Round 1
• Tim Widing (3rd/-9), who won last week’s LECOM Suncoast Classic, posts bogey-free 9-under 62 to tie his career-low round (9-under 62/2023 Utah Championship/Round 1)
• Hunter Eichhorn (T9/-7) leads the eight open qualifiers; his only previous PGA TOUR-sanctioned start was at the 2023 Veritex Bank Championship (finished T60) as an open qualifier
• Reigning champion Spencer Levin (T50/-4) opens title defense bid with four birdies, one eagle, and two bogeys en route to 4-under 67
• Arlington, Texas native, University of Texas-Arlington alum and conditional member Caleb Hicks (T80/-3), competing as a sponsor exemption, is seeking his first made cut in what is his second career Korn Ferry Tour start (MC/2024 Astara Chile Classic)
• Amateurs Preston Stout (T50/-4) and Miles Russell (T80/-3) open in 4-under 67 and 3-under 68, respectively
  • Stout, a freshman at Oklahoma State University who earned co-medalist honors Wednesday at the 2024 Big 12 Conference Championship, countered two bogeys with six birdies in the first round of what is his first PGA TOUR-sanctioned start
  • Russell, age 15, who became the youngest player to make a cut in Korn Ferry Tour event at last week’s LECOM Suncoast Classic, parred his first eight holes, made four birdies and bogeyed the par-5 18th en route to a 3-under 68; he finished T20 at last week’s LECOM Suncoast Classic and became the youngest player on record (i.e. – since 1983) to record a top-25 on either the Korn Ferry Tour or PGA TOUR