Sanderson Farms Championship R1 leaderboard: Hot putter saves Ryder Cup rookie

Rasmus Hojgaard defied low energy levels and an errant driver as he made a bright start to the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi.

Hojgaard endured a tough Ryder Cup debut at Bethpage last week, suffering a heavy defeat in his only match over the first two days before being edged out by Ben Griffin in his singles match.

The Dane was the only player on either side in New York to register zero points, but he was in good spirits at The Country Club of Jackson after firing a 3-under 69 to sit four shots off the lead.

"It was good battle," said Hojgaard, who played only 9 holes of practice in his first appearance at this event. "Still a bit low on energy, so I'm going to manage myself the next couple days and hopefully restore some of it. But it was good, I really enjoyed being back out playing.

"It felt like fairways were poison today. Didn't really see them that much, so had to shape a few approach shots from the trees today. But I putted great, and that kept me in the round."

Hojgaard is in touch with the four joint leaders; Eric Cole, Sam Ryder, Garrick Higgo and Danny Walker, while rising amateur and US Walker Cup star Michael La Sasso carded a confident 66.

Max Homa's bid to move up the FedExCup Fall rankings got off to an encouraging start as he opened with a six-birdie 67 in only his second start since August.

Homa was the leading points scorer for Team USA at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, but he has endured a wretched couple of seasons since and has posted just one top-10 finish this year.

The popular Californian has dropped out of the top 100 in the world rankings and is also a lowly 107th in the FexExCup Fall rankings, but he showed glimpses of his old self at The Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi.

Homa has spent time tinkering with his swing, and he feels the changes are starting to come good.

"Just standard good golf," he said. "Nothing felt crazy good, nothing was below average, it was just a really good round of golf. Hit enough fairways, hit enough good iron shots, made enough putts. Nothing to write home about but also just very good.

"I feel like I started swinging the club pretty well around the Truist. Obviously didn't get the results, but it's been a while since I felt like I could hit the golf ball.

"I would say if there's one thing I was excited about today, the dispersion was small. When I was playing my best golf, I just felt like when I missed, they were very, very small misses.

"That was how it felt or looked like today, I very rarely hit a stinker out there."

Defending champion Kevin Yu is alongside Homa on 5-under, with Hojgaard's fellow Dane and 2018 Ryder Cup star Thobjorn Olesen a shot further back.

There were two holes-in-one at the 183-yard 4th hole, with Niklas Norgaard the first to make an ace before his feat was matched by former Players champion and PGA Tour stalwart Matt Kuchar.