The Albany Gazette - Englishman Hall grabs share of Sony Open lead

Hall, 27, was among six players tied at the top of the leaderboard as first round play at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu was halted due to darkness with a handful of players left on the course.

Hall produced a roller coaster round sprinkled with 10 birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey on his way to the top of the leaderboard.

The 27-year-old attributed his opening round success to his rejuvenated swing, the result of recent work with legendary guru Butch Harmon.

Hall said he contacted the 81-year-old last year seeking advice.

"I approached him and he reached out to me a few months after and said 'it would be great to see you'," Hall said. "I started working with him, and since then I've played really nice."

Hall's aggressive play with the driver was instrumental in sparking his birdie spree.

"If you have confidence in the driver, then it really makes a big difference," Hall said. "It's quite a tight golf course, so if you can hit a driver straight, then you're obviously gaining a few strokes on the field, and that's exactly what I did.

"If I can clean up a few things that happened today -- a couple of bogeys and the double -- it'll hopefully be a really good week."

Hall was the only non-American among the early leaders on Thursday, with Adam Schenk, Eric Cole, Denny McCarthy, Paul Peterson and Tom Hoge joining him on six under.

PGA Tour rookie Peterson made a dream start to his first official appearance on the tour with three birdies and an eagle on the front nine to reach the turn at five under.

Two more birdies on the 10th and 11th took him to seven under but bogeys on the 13th and 16th holes checked his progress before a birdie on the last secured a share of the lead.

"It was pretty fun -- just hit it nice, putted it nicely," Peterson said. "Put some extra time in on the greens yesterday evening and it seemed to pay off.

"It's been nice to feel like I'm hitting it well and getting off to a good start."

With conditions perfect for low-scoring, six players are one off the lead on five under including Sweden's Henrik Norlander and Canadian Adam Hadwin.

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, winner of last week's season-opening Sentry Open in Kapalua, was three off the lead after carding a three-under-par 67.

(W.Walker--TAG)