RBC Heritage 2016: Thursday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

A week after braving the elements of a historically difficult Masters Tournament, a majority of the PGA Tour’s best are sitting out this week’s RBC Heritage Open. That didn’t stop Luke Donald or Branden Grace from putting on a show.

Donald and Grace shot matching five-under 66s in Thursday’s first round, good for a one-stroke lead over the field. Jason Day, the only top-10 player in the field, is lurking among four players at four under.

The Harbour Town course played as expected, with 35 players finishing under par and 57 at least breaking even.

Grace and Donald moved to the front of the pack after similarly steady rounds. Both carded six birdies against a single bogey thanks to strong performances on the putting surface.

Grace was more erratic. He hit only half of his fairways and 55.6 percent of his greens in regulation. But his ability to get up and down was second to none, and he took advantage whenever he had a birdie chance.

"I was just grinding it out, but it was tough. This wind was swirling, and it makes it tough with those tree lines as well," he said, per Will Gray of Golf Channel. "Just try to keep the bogeys off the scorecard at a place like this. The greens are very small, so if you want to have some looks at birdie, you have to try to attack some pins."

Grace is the second-highest-ranked player in the field. He’s coming off a Masters cut, the third straight year he has missed the weekend at Augusta. That hasn’t come back to haunt him in previous years—Grace was a top-20 finisher in 2015’s final three majors—and he appeared confident after getting things back together Thursday.

"The ball-striking has been good. Obviously last week was such a big week and a tough week. It was brutal out there," he said. "It's just one of those things you just have to get over. It's the next week, so just go for it. Maybe the weekend off did me well, and I'm in for maybe a good week here."

Donald played a collected round overall, hitting more than three-fourths of his greens in regulation and 71.4 percent of his fairways. His only bogey of the day came on the par-four eighth.

“Hit a lot of greens, a lot of fairways,” he said, per Bluffton Today. “I felt that way I didn’t have to work too hard to scramble, which at times you can around this place. But, it was one of those good, solid rounds.”

Coming off a tie for 10th at the Masters, Day was off his game off the tee but remained steady. Day had five birdies against a single bogey despite hitting only half of his fairways. With a win this weekend, Day would have three in his last four tournaments and further separate himself from Jordan Spieth atop the World Golf Ranking.

He elaborated on his performance, per Golf Digest:

"

Obviously it's always fun to come back to this place because we are just so used to long golf courses, where you have to hit driver all the time. And this golf course doesn't necessarily take a driver out of your hands, but it makes you hit pretty much where everyone else is hitting the golf ball. And from there it's positioning on the right side of the fairways and if you do that you get to the greens and hopefully make a par.

"

Day is tied with Tony Finau, David Lingmerth and Matt Kuchar in third place. Kuchar turned in a bogey-free round of 67, scrambling for saves and hitting four birdies. Lingmerth shot 31 on the front nine but was one over on the back, failing to make a single birdie. Finau holed out on his second shot on the par-four ninth, which helped him overcome a bogey on the par-five 15th.

The notables elsewhere in the field are few and far between. Zach Johnson and Vijay Singh are each sitting at even par. Defending champion Jim Furyk remains on the shelf (wrist), and the man he beat in a playoff last year, Kevin Kisner, is tied for 58th following a one-over day.

For this tournament to get more than passing attention over the weekend, Day will need to stay in contention, and the odds are that he will after a solid first round.