McCarthy Delighted With Fast Texas Start

Denny McCarthy says his fantastic opening round at the AT&T Byron Nelson has given him a huge amount of confidence.

American McCarthy, who is chasing his maiden PGA Tour title this week, made 10 birdies and a double bogey in a brilliant eight-under-par round of 63, a career-low score, to climb into an early one-shot lead.

The 26-year-old, who is ranked 157th in the world, was very happy his game came together on day one at Trinity Forest Golf Club and he says his confident has increased massively as a result. “Gives me the confidence that I know that I can shoot rounds like this,” McCarthy told the PGA Tour’s official website.

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“I’ve kind of been looking for a round like this just to kind of get me going. I know I can be out here playing with the best and today kind of showed that.” US pair Tyler Duncan and Tom Hoge share second place on -7, one stroke off the lead, while three-time major winner Brooks Koepka is one of nine players that carded six-under-par rounds of 65. South African Justin Harding, who finished tied-12th on his Masters debut last month, heads a group of nine players a further shot back on -5.