Pontus Nyholm leads after Round 1 is suspended at Visit Knoxville Open

Weather: Mostly cloudy with isolated thunderstorms. High of 80. S/SW winds 5-13 mph, gusts up to 19 mph.

Round Suspension Summary: The first round was suspended due to inclement weather at 9:56 a.m., and resumed at 11:45 a.m. (1 hour, 49 minutes). Play was suspended again due to inclement weather at 2 p.m., and resumed at 3:48 p.m. (1 hour, 48 minutes). The first round was suspended at 7:38 p.m. and will resume Friday at 7 a.m.

First-Round Leaderboard

• Pontus Nyholm, 63 (-7)
• Brian Campbell, 64 (-6)
• Ryan Gerard, 64 (-6)
• Patrick Cover, 64 (-6)
• Cristobal Del Solar, 6-under thru 15 holes

Eight players tied at 5-under

Things to Know

• Third-year Korn Ferry Tour member Pontus Nyholm sits in solo first after an opening round 7-under 63
• Play was suspended at 7:38 pm due to inclement weather, play will resume Friday morning at XXX am
• 77 of 156 players in the field did not complete the first round
• This week marks the 34th playing of the Visit Knoxville Open
• The First round will resume Friday at 7 a.m. with second-round tee times to follow at approximately 7:50 a.m.

First-Round Lead Notes

6 - First-round leaders/co-leaders to win the Visit Knoxville Open (Greyson Sigg (2021), Martin Piller (2014), Jarrod Lyle (2008), Heath Slocum (2001), Dave Rummells (1997) and Frank Conner (1991))
0 -First-round leaders/co-leaders to win on Tour in 2024

Charting the Leader

Pontus Nyholm (Leader/-7)

• Cards the lowest opening round of his career with a 7-under 63, holing nine birdies (Nos. 1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 18) against two bogeys (Nos. 11, 12)
• 11th start of the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season, making seven cuts and highlighted by a T20 at the Astara Golf Championship presented by Mastercard in Bogota, Colombia
• Entered the week at No. 80 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List
• Finished No. 69 on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour Points List to earn fully exempt status for the 2024 season
• Made 25 starts last year with four top-25 finishes and one top-10, coming in the form of a T5 at the Simmons Bank Open for the Snedeker Foundation where he held the 54-hole co-lead
• Owns 60 career starts on the Tour with ten top-25s and two top-10 finishes, including a runner-up at the 2022 Veritex Bank Championship
• A Sweden native who played collegiately at Campbell University before turning professional in 2021
• First earned Korn Ferry Tour membership ahead of the 2022 season via T29 finish at Final Stage of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament

Quotables

Pontus Nyholm on his first round 7-under 63: “Putted really good all day. Didn't hit it as well as I wanted to, but I was able to hit some wedges close and made a good amount of putts. Yeah, putter was rolling.”

Nyholm on resuming play after the weather delay: “Yeah, I actually came back and probably hit the worst shot of the day, terrible drive on my 12th hole. Yeah, just like any rain delay, you try and stay in it as much as you can. You don't know how long it's going to be, so got a nice little warmup and was kind of able to get back into it, even though first tee shot was shaky.”

Ryan Gerard on his connection to Holston Hills Country Club: “I started working with a guy named Carl Lohren around 2014 and he's a member here actually, and his son-in-law is the director of golf, Chris. So I've known these guys for forever. They've been nice enough to let me come out here and play their golf course and practice on the range from time to time whenever I'm in town off and on for almost a decade, so it's been pretty special.”

Notes

• Brian Campbell (T2/-6), Ryan Gerard (T2/-6)and Patrick Cover (T2/-6) all trail Nyholm by one stroke after 6-under 64s in Thursday’s opening round
  • Gerard, who made 22 starts on the PGA TOUR last season, matched his low round of the year that he posted in the first round of the LECOM Suncoast Classic (finished T37)
• ·Second-year Korn Ferry Tour member Cristobal Del Solar (T2/-6) has three holes to play in the first round and currently sits at 6-under
• Korn Ferry Tour rookie Sam Bennett (T6/-5), who finished T15 at last week’s AdventHealth Championship, turned in a bogey-free 5-under 65 to begin the week. Bennett rolled in birdies on the par-4 first, 10th, 13th and 16th, as well as the par-3 fourth
• Harry Higgs (T6/-5), who won last week’s AdventHealth Championship, has three holes left in the opening round and is the only Korn Ferry Tour winner this season inside the top 10 on the leaderboard
• Making his first start of the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season, Shad Tuten (T14/-4) posted a 4-under 66 with six birdies (Nos. 1, 3, 6, 13, 15, 18) against two bogeys (Nos. 16, 17)
  • Tuten made one start earlier this season on PGA TOUR Americas, finishing T6 at the KIA Open in Quito, Ecuador
• Open qualifier Will Grimmer (T20/-3), making his first start of the 2024 season, is seeking his first made cut on the Korn Ferry Tour in his fourth career start
• University of Tennessee alum and Nashville native Rick Lamb (T44/-2), is 2-under with six holes remaining in the first round
• Davis Shore (T103/E), competing in his hometown event, played his first 18 holes even par
• Of the 79 players to complete the first round, four are bogey-free
• Bennett, Tain Lee (T14/-4), Russell Knox (T21/-3) and T.J. Vogel (T44/-2)