With all eyes on the United States and Europe this week, it was a Canadian who commanded the bulk of the attention Thursday at the 2025 Procore Championship. Mackenzie Hughes found himself on a brief 59 watch in the first round at Silverado Resort, though he ultimately settled for a 9-under 63 to grab a one-stroke lead over Matt McCarty and Ben Griffin in the opening tournament of FedEx Cup Fall.
“Was really able to kind of pile it on there on the front nine,” Hughes said. “Kind of got a sense that around the turn there that things were going nicely. I had a nice feel with the putter, so it was really just about like continuing to put my foot on the gas and go forward. … Really was a nice day, obviously boosted a lot by a strong putter.”
Hughes rattled in nine birdies across his first 13 holes and faced a pair of par 5s coming in to potentially take it even deeper. Instead, the Canadian exchanged a couple of bogeys against a couple of birdies to stay at 9 under and inch closer to the top 60 in FedEx Cup Fall, which would ultimately qualify him for the first two signature events of the 2026 season.
For Keegan Bradley’s U.S. Ryder Cup players, Griffin and Russell Henley had the hot hands Thursday, though it did not appear to be headed in that direction early. The Arnold Palmer Invitational winner started his Procore Championship with consecutive bogeys alongside U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun and PGA Championship and Open winner Scottie Scheffler.
“I haven’t played with Scottie much, but it was nice … and I think that’s what Keegan’s goal is, just to get everyone familiarized with each other,” Spaun said. “He obviously knows I haven’t played with him very much. Granted, what the pairings will end up being, we want to get comfortable playing with each other. But I played with him pretty recently, and I played well. It’s just good to play with him and learn from him but also feel comfortable in your own skin.”
It appeared Henley’s sputter out of the gate knocked him into gear as the reliable right hander ran home 10 birdies — four straight after the bogey-bogey start — to get into the clubhouse with a 7-under 65. Griffin did one better on the back nine with five birdies on the closing holes.
Meanwhile, Spaun did his best to keep up with his U.S. teammate, settling for a 67 while the world No. 1 was the one to surprisingly bring up the rear in that threesome. Scheffler was largely his usual self from tee to green but faced some adversity on the greens where he bled more than one stroke to the field.
It all added up to an opening 70 for Scheffler, which put an end to his streak of sub-70 rounds. Scheffler had tied Patrick Cantlay with 21 straight low rounds at the conclusion of the Tour Championship, which made for the longest run in the modern era.
“I think it was a pretty frustrating day overall,” Scheffler said. “I felt like I did some things well out there; I just wasn’t quite getting the reward. Yeah, that’s pretty much it on my end.”
As for other notables, Sahith Theegala and Akshay Bhatia both enjoyed solid performances with matching 68s, which is especially promising for Theegala coming off an injury-riddled 2025 campaign. The rest of the U.S. Ryder Cup team hovered around even par with Cantlay, Collin Morikawa and Harris English ending their first 18 holes at the same place where they started the tournament.