Philip Knowles holds solo lead at Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club

The first round was suspended due to darkness at 7:50 p.m. ET and will resume Friday morning at 8 a.m. with 15 players needing to complete the first round. Second-round tee times will run from 7:10 a.m. through 2:31 p.m. off the first and 10th tees.

Things to Know

• Philip Knowles holds a two-shot lead entering Friday after a first-round 6-under 66.
• Rookie Connor Burgess records his low round of the season and sits two shots behind the leader.
• Marcelo Rozo and Chris Petefish card matching 4-under 68s and sit T2 alongside Burgess.
• After a bogey-double bogey start, Points List leader Mason Andersen plays his final 16 holes at 6-under par and sits T5 at 3-under.
• The first round was suspended due to darkness and will resume Friday morning at 8 a.m. ET with 15 players needing to complete the first round.

First-Round Lead Notes

1 - First-round leaders/co-leaders to win Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club

• Dan McCarthy, 2019 (T1)

0 - First-round leaders/co-leaders to win on Tour in 2024

Charting the Leader

Philip Knowles (Leader/-6)

• Carded a 6-under 66 and holds a two-shot lead entering Friday
• Recorded one eagle at the par-4 fifth, along with seven birdies, and three bogeys
  • Seven birdies came at three par 5s (Nos. 3, 6, 18), three par 4s (Nos. 4, 11, 13) and the par-3 17th
  • Three bogeys came at the par-4 first, par-3 eighth and par-3 12th
• Positioned to claim his third career 18-hole lead on the Korn Ferry Tour and first since 2022
  • Outright 18-hole leader at 2022 Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron (finished T2)
  • Outright 18-hole leader at 2022 Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Woodhouse (finished T10)
• Making first ever start at the Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club
• Making his third start of the season this week and first since The Panama Championship in February where he finished T16
• Last season, made nine starts during the 2022-23 PGA TOUR season before suffering a thumb injury
  • In nine TOUR starts, logged three made cuts with the best finish being T48 at the World Wide Technology Championship
  • Returned to competition four months after sustaining the injury and made three starts on the Korn Ferry Tour during the 2023 season
• Earned his first PGA TOUR card via the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Finals after he began the season with conditional status
  • In 19 starts during the 2022 season, logged eight top-25 finishes and two top-10s
• Played collegiately for four seasons at University of North Florida (2015-19), where he was a 2019 All-America Third Team selection and 2018 All-America Honorable Mention; also named the 2019 Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Year and was a three-time All-Atlantic Sun First Team selection (2017, 2018, 2019)
• Won three tournaments as a collegian, with his victory at the 2017 Players Amateur earning him an exemption for the PGA TOUR's 2018 RBC Heritage
• Grew up in Bradenton, Florida, and now resides in Jacksonville, Florida
• Attended high school at Bradenton Christian School, where his now wife, Olivia, played alongside him on the boys golf team as the school did not have a girls team

Quotables

Knowles on his expectations entering just his third start of the season… “Expectations are to come and compete. You don't tee it up if you don't think you can win. There's a lot of golf ahead and I haven't gotten to play a lot of golf lately, so this is exciting. This is kind of what I came to do and came to find out where I was.”

Knowles on this week at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club… “Conditioning is superb, greens are as good as any we play all year, fairways are really good. The hospitality is great. Like the event itself is just run really well. So I think all those things play into it. The golf course itself is fun, like it's not overly difficult but it's also like you have to still go hit golf shots and you have to have good touch with the putter, you have to have good touch around the greens. If you're doing things well, you can shoot good numbers. That's often a favorite amongst players is those golf courses where if you play good golf you'll get rewarded and if you play bad golf you can shoot 75.”

Rozo on playing well today after missing the 2023 season due to injury… “It's really a blessing that I'm playing. I'm super happy to be here. I'll just keep working. I love this game. I thought I was never going to come back, but through hard work and support from my family, my team, I'm here doing what I like. Whether I play good or bad, I don't care, I just like being out here. That's really what I'm focusing on every day, just being thankful that I have a chance to come out here and do what I love. It's not easy. We get too focused on results and results really don't tell you the honest answer of your process. So I'm just trying to do my best, get one percent better every day, control what I can control, which is waking up every day, working out, eating well, practicing and really just trying my best. If at the end of the week or the year I get my [TOUR] card or I don't, then that's OK. But if you just do the right things and you can go to bed every night knowing that. That's what I'm trying to do.”

Notes

• Rozo (T2/-4), in his fifth ever start at the Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club, carded a 4-under 68 via six birdies against one double bogey
• After missing the entire 2023 season due to a wrist injury, Rozo has started all six events this year and logged one top-25 finish (T25 at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay)
• Bogota, Colombia, native who turned professional in 2012 and played primarily on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica (now PGA TOUR Americas) from 2013-18 before joining the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019
• In 95 career starts on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica, logged 23 top-10 finishes, including three wins
• Petefish (T2/-4) recorded a 4-under 68 with five birdies (Nos. 4, 5, 6, 9, 11) against one bogey at the par-3 12th
• Last season, finished No. 45 on the Korn Ferry Tour Points List after recording three top-10s, including two as runner-up – T2 at Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship and solo 2nd at the Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank
• Turned professional in 2018 out of Georgia Tech, where he was a two-time All-America Scholar and All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection as a senior; helped Georgia Tech capture the team title at the 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship
• Korn Ferry Tour rookie Burgess (T2/-4) is making his seventh ever start and sits two shots off the lead after Thursday following a first-round 4-under 68
• Burgess earned Korn Ferry Tour status this season by claiming medalist honors at Second Stage of 2023 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, guaranteeing eight starts to begin the 2024 season
• Burgess, who won the 2023 State Open of Virginia, turned professional in 2022 after playing collegiately at Virginia Tech
• Seven players are tied at 3-under par, including Korn Ferry Tour winners Trevor Cone (T5/-3), Brandon Harkins (T5/-3) and Andersen (T5/-3)
  • Andersen, who currently sits No. 1 on the Points List, won this season’s 117 Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro, earning an exemption to the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon
  • Andersen opened Thursday’s round with a bogey-double bogey start before playing the final 16 holes at 6-under par to finish with the 3-under 69
• Georgia Southern alum Steven Fisk (T12/-2) sat 4-under thru his first 10 holes, but finished with a 2-under 70 after tallying four total birdies (Nos. 1, 5, 9, 10) against two bogeys (Nos. 12, 17)
• Andrew Kozan (T12/-2), who earned the start this week as an open qualifier, recorded six birdies against two bogeys and one double bogey, finishing with a 2-under 70
• Georgia Southern alum Ben Carr (T12/2-under thru 16) sits 2-under par and has two holes remaining in his first round to complete Friday morning