LAS VEGAS – Talk about a heater.
Robert Streb might have wanted to be sitting at a blackjack table on the Las Vegas Strip Thursday morning considering how hot he was running, but the emerald felt at the Summit worked out just fine for his blistering ways.
With no wind whistling about this sun-drenched desert layout, and his hot hand working off the tees, from the fairways and on the greens, Streb lit up the scoreboard with a record-tying start in the CJ Cup.
The two-time PGA Tour winner started birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie before missing a 13-footer for birdie on the par-3 seventh. He got up and down for par from just off the green on the eighth hole and two-putted for par from 26 feet on the ninth to make the turn with a 7-under 29.
He leads by three shots in the early going.
With his five birdies and an eagle, Streb joined Brandt Snedeker (first round of the 2007 Farmers Insurance Open) as the only two players to start a PGA Tour event 7 under through six holes in the ShotLink era.
Streb also made a run at Corey Pavin’s nine-hole PGA Tour record. Pavin shot 9-under 26 on the front nine in the first round of the 2005 U.S. Bank Championship.
He made birdie putts of 7, 6, 17, 4 and 3 feet and canned a 12-footer for eagle on the third hole. Streb, who won the 2015 McGladrey Classic and 2021 RSM Classic, didn’t miss a fairway in regulation and missed just one green in regulation on the front nine.
Streb’s lowest round on the PGA Tour is 63, which he has shot five times.
