Franklin Templeton Shootout 2015: Thursday Scores, Highlights and Reaction

The last PGA Tour event on the 2015 calendar is underway from Naples, Florida, with the Franklin Templeton Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club. After the first round of play on Thursday, Harris English and Matt Kuchar have an early lead after shooting 14-unders.

Here is a look at the leaderboard after one round of play:    

Place	Team	Score
1	Harris English and Matt Kuchar	-14
T2	Billy Horschel and Hunter Mahan	-13
T2	Graeme McDowell and Gary Woodland	-13
4	Daniel Berger and Charley Hoffman	-12
T5	J.B. Holmes and Patrick Reed	-11
T5	Jason Dufner and Brandt Snedeker	-11
T5	Cameron Tringale and Camilo Villegas	-11
8	Charles Howell III and Rory Sabbatini	-10
9	Retief Goosen and Danny Lee	-8
T10	Sean O’Hair and Mike Weir	-7
T10	Kenny Perry and Steve Stricker	-7
T10	Zach Johnson and Patrick Rodgers	-7

The Franklin Templeton Shootout features teams of two golfers, who will see the rules of the tournament change with each round. 

On Thursday, they played the first round under scramble rules, where each player hits a drive and the best one is selected moving forward. From that best spot, each player once again hits a second shot, with the best one again selected. This format continues until the team completes the hole.

English and Kuchar used birdies on the final two holes to snatch the first-round lead away from Billy Horschel and Hunter Mahan, who are one stroke behind them at 13 under after the first day. 

The second-place duo is tied with Graeme McDowell and Gary Woodland, who provided some of the day's best shots, as the PGA Tour shows. 

First is McDowell's birdie on No. 12:

As well as his third shot from the sand on No. 17, setting up a late birdie:

Behind them, there are five teams within three strokes, including Charles Howell III and Rory Sabbatini, who could have been closer if this approach shot rolled a few more inches to the right, per the PGA Tour:

The entertaining thing about this format of play is that each team gets two chances to record a good shot, thus setting up more chances to piece together low scores. 

The second round won't prove to be so forgiving. On Friday, each player will hit a drive, with the best one selected. The player whose drive is worse gets the second shot, and the teammates alternate shots until they complete the hole.

The change in format could mean the scores won't be as low as Thursday's, but with the quality in the field, the Franklin Templeton Shootout will remain hotly contested. 

Stats courtesy of FranklinTempletonShootout.com.