Davis Thompson, making just his third professional start, fired an opening-round 63 on Thursday to take a two-shot lead at the rain-plagued Rocket Mortgage Classic near Detroit.
The round was suspended at 9:02 p.m. ET due to darkness after a rain delay of more than three hours.
Brandon Hagy, Tom Lewis, and Joaquin Niemann carded 7-under 65s to tie for second. Seamus Power and J. J. Spaun were three shots back after rounds of 6-under 66.
Starting on the back nine, Thompson's bogey-free round began with birdies at 10 and 11. Thompson, who led last year's US Open after one round playing as an amateur, cemented his day with birdies at Nos. 7 and 8. He carded nine for his round.
Riding the wave
"If the putter gets hot, you can just kind of ride that wave throughout the day," Thompson said. "And I was on with my reads today, my caddie did a great job with that. ... I knew I was hitting it well and I just committed to every target and just stayed in the moment."
Lewis and Hagy also delivered bogey-free rounds.
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The first-round rain delay didn't seem to bother Thompson.
"I just tried to block all that out and focus on finishing strong and I was able to do that today, which was huge," he said following his round. "Kind of keep the momentum going into tomorrow."
Thirteen golfers were bunched up in a tie for seventh at 5 under, including Roger Sloan who was on the 16th when play was suspended. Twenty-seven players in all were still on the course when play was halted.
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau shot an even-par 72 and is T110 heading into Friday's second round. DeChambeau parted ways with caddie Tim Tucker ahead of the first round. Ben Schomin took over on the bag for DeChambeau and will caddie for him the rest of the tournament.
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