Fathauer, newcomers take early Colonial lead

With the morning wave of golfers complete at the Dean & DeLuca Invitational, touring pro Derek Fathauer has taken the early lead at Fort Worth’s annual PGA Tour stop with a round of 5-under par 65.

Fathauer, playing in his third Colonial, put together six birdies and a bogey in his morning round to move to the top of the leader board. He stands a stroke ahead of a three-player group that includes Jon Rahm, the frontrunner for PGA Tour rookie of the year honors, and Graeme McDowell, a longtime European Ryder Cup standout making his first Colonial appearace.

Rahm, McDowell and Scott Brown finished their morning rounds with scores of 66.

Phil Mickelson, a two-time Colonial champ playing the event for the first time since 2010, closed with three consecutive birdies to open with a 67, two strokes behind Fathauer.

All of the morning competitors competed in relatively quiet conditions for roughly nine holes before winds began swirling and making scoring conditions more difficult. Players in the afternoon round have found it more difficult to bag birdies during the early stages of their round.

Defending champ Jordan Spieth, a Dallas resident, stood at 2-over par through the first four holes of his afternoon round.

As he left the course, Fathauer cited the benign morning conditions as a key factor in his surge to the top of the leader board.

“The greens are perfect. The course is perfect,” Fathauer said. “The wind picked up on our back nine. I don’t know what it’s going to do this afternoon, but the front nine was pretty calm and then it really started blowing on the back nine.”

Mickelson, the 2008 and 2000 Colonial champ, said he felt comfortable in his first appearance at the course in seven years.

“It was a fun day … fun to finish the round with a few birdies,” Mickelson said. “We got a good break, we really did, to have calm conditions the first nine holes we played.”

This story was originally published May 25, 2017 at 2:41 PM with the headline "Fathauer, newcomers take early Colonial lead."