McKinney, Texas. Thursday at TPC Craig Ranch began under clouds and scattered showers, the kind of moisture that softens a course and invites adventure. The air reached 76 degrees, the wind stayed quiet, and the greens accepted what the field threw at them. By evening, 25 eagles had been posted in a first round marked by generosity, and a man nobody arrived particularly expecting to see at the top of the board had signed for a 9-under 62.
Taylor Moore led by one, holding his fourth 18-hole lead on TOUR. The preceding three had all gone unconverted, 0-for-3, the most recent a tie for 11th at the 2024 Baycurrent Classic. Thursday was only the beginning.
The opening threshold
This is Moore's third start at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson; he tied for 32nd in 2022 and missed the cut in 2025. His best start this season was a tie for second at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. At No. 73 in the FedExCup standings when the week began, he arrived without the credential of history. What he brought instead was precision. A bogey-free scorecard, 18 straight pars or better, irons that found their lines and stayed on them. His first PGA TOUR victory came in 2023 at the Valspar Championship, and Thursday suggested he had learned something in the interval: how to separate himself from a field by doing nothing spectacular, only nothing wrong.
The men in pursuit
Brooks Koepka, returning to the TOUR through the Returning Member Program and appearing in his 11th start since becoming eligible, signed for an 8-under 63 of his own. It was bogey-free, one stroke short of his career-best opening round on TOUR, and it marked his first bogey-free opening round on TOUR since the 2023 Masters. Koepka has five top-25 finishes in 10 starts this season. Alongside him at the same 8-under 63 sat Jesper Svensson, a second-year member who earned his card by finishing inside the top 10 of the 2024 DP World Tour Eligibility Ranking, his own 63 one stroke shy of his career best on TOUR.
At the other end of experience, Si Woo Kim posted a 7-under 64 and stood in a tie for fourth. The South Korea native and Dallas resident was making his sixth start at this event, and he had come to know TPC Craig Ranch well: three consecutive top-15 finishes, the longest active streak of any player at the course save Scottie Scheffler himself. His opening round was the kind that travels from day to day: clean, quiet, the work of a man who has been here before.
The defending champion at distance
Scheffler, the 2025 winner by eight strokes and seeking to become the first player since Tiger Woods to repeat after such a margin, opened at a tie for 16th, five shots back. His 5-under 66 was entirely professional: steady, unremarkable, the work of a man in no hurry. He had come to defend, not to dazzle on Thursday. The world No. 1, owner of 31 straight top-25 finishes and a three-time title defender on TOUR, had Friday and the weekend to remind the field who they were chasing.
The course and the club
Twenty-five eagles in the first round marked the most in an opening round on TOUR this season, surpassing the 22 posted at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Stephan Jaeger and Michael Thorbjornsen both signed for bogey-free 64s, the second consecutive year both had done so at this event. Jaeger, whose lone TOUR victory in 190 starts came in Texas, was one of 14 players in the field to have previously won in the state. Hank Lebioda carded a 6-under 65, marked by two eagles on the par-4 holes, a feat matched only once this season.
Jordan Spieth, making his 14th appearance at an event where he has never won, shot a 68. It was his 14th consecutive opening round of par or better in this tournament, the longest active streak of any player at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson.
What Friday demands
The cut will sort the field by depth of conviction and accuracy under pressure. Shallow leads do not hold at a course this forgiving. Moore must prove that Thursday was not simply a perfect alignment of conditions and golf swing; he must repeat himself while the men behind him sharpen their own approach. Koepka and Svensson, one stroke back, are close enough that one low round displaces the leader entirely.
The forecast calls for cloudiness and a high of 83, winds out of the south and southwest. TPC Craig Ranch will not defend itself on Friday any more than it did on Thursday. The men who take from the course what it offers will move forward. The men who play to defend will find themselves looking up at a board that only compresses as the week advances.
Moore holds his fourth lead. Scheffler hunts his fourth repeat. The course waits to see who understands what comes next.