Korea's Byeong Hun An fired a bogey-free 3-under 68 to lie two strokes behind the co-leaders after the first round of the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook Golf Resort's Copperhead Course, here.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
An Byeong is two behind the leaders, Ryan Brehm, Adam Schenk and Stephan Jaeger, who carded matching 66s. Two of the tournament's top draws, Jordan Spieth fired a 67 for tied fourth while Justin Thomas opened with a 69 on Thursday.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Akshay Bhatia, who accepted PGA Tour's Temporary membership recently, opened with two birdies, but closed with three bogeys. In between, he had three other birdies and two bogeys for a round of 1-under 71 and was placed tied 21st.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Bhatia, who has one win on the Korn Ferry Tour, was runner-up at the Puerto Rico Open earlier this month. That finish helped him gain temporary membership to the PGA Tour.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Byeong, the 31-year-old Korean, fresh off a T35 finish at THE PLAYERS Championship last week, is seeking a maiden TOUR win. An Byeong birdied the fifth, tenth and 17th holes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Brehm, who has missed 14 cuts out 17 starts this season, stood out amongst the leading trio when he fired his career-first hole-in-one with a 7-iron on the par-3 17th hole.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
An's countryman, S.H. Kim shot a 71 to lie in a share of 32nd place and was matched by China's Zecheng Dou, who endured a roller-coaster round before finishing strongly with two late birdies. Carl Yuan of China returned a 72 for T58 while another Korean K.H Lee carded a 74.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
An, who was once ranked in the world's top-50, is hoping to follow in the footsteps of Korean legend, K.J. Choi, who won the tournament in 2002 and 2006.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Brehm is chasing a second PGA TOUR victory after breaking through at the Puerto Rico Championship last year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Apart from his magical ace on No. 17, he notched four birdies on Holes No. 1, 5, 11 and 14 to offset a lone bogey on the sixth hole.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Brehm is chasing a second PGA TOUR victory after breaking through at the Puerto Rico Championship last year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n