Closing eagles gives Reed lead at Tournament of Champions

Patrick Reed ended Day 1 of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions where he finished here a year ago: atop the leaderboard.

Reed, who won the PGA Tour’s winners-only event a year ago, has a one-stroke lead over Thursday playing partner Jordan Spieth after the first round at Kapalua’s Plantation Course on Maui in Hawaii. The Augusta State product closed with an eagle 3 on the par-5 finisher to shoot 8-under 65 and wind up one clear of the reigning FedEx Cup champion.

For his part, Spieth managed a birdie on the final hole to shoot 66 and wind up right back in the final pairing on Friday with Reed.

Brandt Snedeker, J.B. Holmes and Danny Lee share third place at 6 under par.

Of the 32 players in the field, 25 finished under par for the day. Among those who didn’t better 73 on Thursday is British Open winner Zach Johnson, who was 2 over par in his first round since switching from Titleist equipment to upstart Parsons Xtreme Golf in 2016.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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