Roberto Diaz takes early lead with nine-under 62 first round at John Deere Classic

Roberto Diaz has been a professional golfer since 2009, but he’s never registered a win in his 10-year career. Now, the 32-year-old Mexican golfer is in as good of a spot as ever to capture his first professional victory.

Diaz shot a nine-under 62 during Thursday’s first round of the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run, putting him in the lead by two strokes over Russell Henley and Adam Long at seven under heading into Friday’s second round. Diaz came out of the gates on fire as he racked up four birdies on his first five holes to quickly move to four under on the round. He would shoot even par over the next four holes to make the turn at 31.

After starting his back nine with an eagle at the 10th hole, Diaz would tally up birdies at the 14th, 16th, and 17th holes to take control of the leaderboard and shoot a five-under 31 on the back-nine. Diaz’s 62 on Thursday is a career low round for him.

Before joining the PGA Tour, Diaz teed it up on the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour Latinoamerica. Yet even on both tours, Diaz failed to find the winner’s circle. The only major tournament he has played in so far during his career was the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills where he missed the cut.

Diaz’s best finish ever on Tour came just a few weeks ago at the Travelers Championship, when he finished T8 at TPC River Highlands. He also finished T10 at the Puerto Rico Open in February.

“I just feel that everything clicked today,” Diaz said in his post-round press conference. “I’ve been playing pretty solid throughout the year. The driver has been awesome. I’ve been hitting a lot of fairways, and today I hit good numbers all day, and that helps.”

He tees off his second round at 8:50 a.m. ET on Friday alongside John Chin and Chris Thompson.

Hungry like the Wolff

Coming off his first PGA Tour win in only his third start as a pro, Matthew Wolff kept his strong play going by shooting a bogey-free, four-under 67 during the first round. The 20-year-old and most talked about golfer in the sport right now is T20 and sits only five strokes off the lead heading into Friday’s second round.

After starting off slow by shooting even par over his first nine holes, Wolff caught fire on his final nine by draining four birdies, including three straight on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd holes. His fourth and final birdie came at the 8th hole, as he began his day on the back nine at TPC Deere Run.

Here comes @matthew_wolff5.

Three consecutive birdies puts him four back.#LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/7haBjEzasu

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 11, 2019

Wolff tees off Friday at 12:50 p.m. ET alongside Kevin Tway and Charles Howell III.

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