From Korn Ferry Tour
A trio of players stood atop the leaderboard at seven-under par after the first round at the AdventHealth Championship. MJ Daffue, Michael Feagles and Trevor Cone all carded seven-under 65s to share the 18-hole lead at Blue Hills Country Club.
Daffue turned in a bogey-free card Thursday which consisted of seven birdies and 12 pars. The 33-year-old South African teed off from the 10th hole and tallied three consecutive birdies on 11 to 13 before adding another on the par-four 16th, putting him at four-under-par at the turn. Daffue added three more birdies at the first, seventh and eighth holes.
“I got lucky once or twice,” Daffue said following his opening round. “I hit one or two trees and it bounced me back in the fairway, but tomorrow it may bounce the other way. It just cancels out throughout the season and I’m just trying to be really grateful for being healthy and having a great family and great supporters and sponsors. I think my mind of gratitude is putting me in a good position to perform.”
Daffue turned professional out of Lamar University in 2012, but struggled to obtain status for the first seven years of his career. Daffue finished T138 at Final Stage of the 2017 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament, leaving him buried in the priority ranking and for the 2018 season. His first Korn Ferry Tour start came in 2019 after he successfully Monday qualified. Daffue Monday qualified into five of his 10 career Korn Ferry Tour starts prior to the 2022 season, while another three were via top-25s following a successful Monday qualifier.
Daffue returned to Final Stage of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament last November, but he finished T50 and missed the top 40 – which left him without guaranteed starts for the 2022 season – by a single stroke. After a battle with COVID in January, Daffue was the seventh-to-last player in the field at the season-opening The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay, where he finished T15 and positioned himself to climb the priority ranking following the reshuffle.
In 11 starts this season, Daffue has four top-10s, including a T2 at the LECOM Suncoast Classic back in February and a solo third last week at the Visit Knoxville Open. Today’s performance marked the second time that Daffue sits atop the leaderboard after the first round as he was the outright 18-hole leader at the Veritex Bank Championship in April following a nine-under 62, a career-low round.
“I’ve been playing pretty good the last few years and like I said before, I just needed to be able to have a season and schedule,” Daffue said. “I’m just so grateful that I’ve only missed one cut, and I missed it by a shot too. I’m figuring it out as far as I go and just trusting in my ability to put the ball in the hole.”
