Max Homa grabs early lead in Nedbank Golf Challenge title defense

SUN CITY, South Africa — Defending champion Max Homa birdied his last two holes to shoot a 6-under 66 and take a one-shot lead over South African Ockie Strydom in the first round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Thursday.

Homa started his round with three straight birdies and had two more on the front nine. He dropped two shots with bogeys on the back nine.

Strydom’s opening round of 67 included four birdies, an eagle and a bogey.

Pablo Larrazábal, Andy Sullivan, Matthew Jordan and Thorbjorn Olesen were in a tie for third, two shots behind Strydom.

After missing out on qualifying for the Tour Championship in August, Homa had made just two tour-level starts. Last year, he became the fifth American to lift the trophy in South Africa.

“It felt really good because I haven’t played a tournament in a while and I have been working on a lot of new stuff, so to come out and birdie the first three holes was cool,” said Homa, the six-time PGA Tour winner who is trying to become the eighth player to successfully defend his title at the tournament — and the first American to do it since Jim Furyk in 2006.

“I thought I played really well,” Homa said. “It was really tricky with the wind, it did a complete flip on seven, so it threw us through a bit of a loop but I thought I did a really good job of adjusting to it. Made one mistake on the 15th, leaving it long of that pin, but otherwise I did a pretty good job of playing within myself and not hitting shots I don’t love to hit, so yeah it was good.”

Homa is among three players in the field who are ranked in the top 50, along with Corey Conners — who opened with a 72 — and Thriston Lawrence, who shot a 71.

The field also includes American Will Zalatoris, who had a 74 after a double bogey on the par-4 13th hole.