Compton shares McGladrey lead

Erik Compton is one of four players tied for the lead after the opening round of the McGladrey Classic at Sea Island in Georgia.

The 35-year-old, one of the most remarkable professional golfers in the world having undergone two heart transplants, fired a confident five-under 65 to join fellow Americans Brian Harman, Michael Thompson and Will MacKenzie at the top of the leaderboard.

Compton, runner-up behind runaway winner Martin Kaymer at the US Open in June, birdied the first two holes at the Seaside Course and added another at the ninth to turn in 32.

He picked up another shot at 11 and bounced back from his first blemish of the day at the 14th with two further birdies before parring safely in.

"I expect I should win this year. That's a goal of mine," said Compton, who has yet to claim a PGA Tour title in 13 years as a professional. "It's always been a goal, but I think every time I get on the course it becomes more of a realistic expectation.

"I just want to get the ball in play and hit on the green and see where I can go. And that's difficult to do in four days, and it's proven difficult for a lot of guys who have never won on tour who have great careers.

"I happen to be one of those guys right now, and I feel like if I can do the things like I did today and get out of my own way, there's no reason I shouldn't continue to progress in this game.

"If you get it going the greens here are really quick and they're very true. So if you're playing well I think there's some good scores out there.

"Conditions I think will definitely get tighter during the week and (these are) definitely the fastest greens we've putted on in a while so you've got to be careful."

Local resident Harman birdied four of his last seven holes to set the early clubhouse target, while Thompson also mixed six birdies with a lone bogey and MacKenzie recovered from a double-bogey at the 16th - his seventh - with four birdies on the front nine.

Harman, making his first appearance of the season, said: "It has been a while since I played a golf tournament. I took the first two tournaments off because I wasn't quite ready to go so I wasn't quite sure how things were going to go.

"It was windy, it was cold this morning, it was tough conditions and I just outlasted it and finally started getting comfortable and playing better and finished real nice."

Last season's Rookie of the Year, Chesson Hadley, opened with a 66 to earn a share of fifth place along with six other Americans, with South Korea's Sung Joon Park the only non-home player in the top 12.

Former US Open champion and pre-tournament favourite Webb Simpson is one further adrift after he battled back from being three over par after five holes.

Simpson's 67 was matched by his Ryder Cup team-mate Matt Kuchar, while Scotland's Martin Laird continued his solid start to the new season with a two-under 68.

Mark Anderson played the shot of the day as he lit up his level-par 70 with a hole-in-one on the 203-yard, par-three third.

But three-time major champion Padraig Harrington has work to do to make the cut after he laboured to a one-over 71, and Laird's fellow Scot Russell Knox - the halfway leader in Las Vegas last week - crashed to a 76, the second-worst round of the day.