Juhyung Kim 1 Over Par... 'Need to Make a Charge'

Rocket Mortgage Classic 1R Tied 115th
Tied 75th 2 Shots Behind, Tied 50th 3 Shots Behind
Bhatia Leads, Lee Kyung-hoon and Kim Sung-hyun Tied 100th

Kim Joo-hyung had a quiet start.

Kim Juhyung is carefully reading the green on the 8th hole of the first round at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. [Detroit=AFP·Yonhap News]

On the 27th (local time), at the Detroit Golf Club (par 72, 7,370 yards) in Detroit, Michigan, USA, during the first round of the PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic (total prize money $9.2 million), he scored 3 birdies and 4 bogeys for a 1-over-par 73. He remained tied for 115th place and needs to improve his ranking in the second round to advance to the main event.

Kim Joo-hyung struggled with his main weapon, the irons, that day. His greens in regulation rate was only 50%. Of course, there is still plenty of room for a turnaround in this tournament. He is only 2 strokes behind the tied 75th place and 3 strokes behind the tied 50th place. There is ample opportunity to get inside the cut line in the second round. He finished as runner-up after a playoff against world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (USA) at the Travelers Championship, which ended on the 24th.

Akshay Bhatia (USA) took the top spot on the leaderboard with an 8-under-par 64. This marks his third career win, coming three months after the Valero Texas Open in April. Michael Kim and Taylor Montgomery (both USA) are tied for second place at 7-under-par 65, chasing closely. Defending champion Rickie Fowler and Will Zalatoris (both USA) are tied for fourth place at 6-under-par 66. From Korea, Lee Kyung-hoon and Kim Sung-hyun are tied for 100th place at even-par 72.