After an injury-hit campaign last year, Alexander Levy is encouraged with where his game is at after a confidence-boosting performance on the opening day of the Barracuda Championship.
The Frenchman missed ninth months of action last year with a lower back issue before he made his comeback at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January.
He finished in a tie for ninth – his best finish so far this season – at last week’s Barbasol Championship and has brought that form from Kentucky over to Truckee, California, as he opened with a bogey-free round of eight-under-par 63.
That leaves Levy in a tie for third place on 16 points, seven adrift of early pacesetter Noh Seung-Yul from South Korea in this week’s tournament which uses the Modified Stableford Scoring format.
“Last week I played good,” he said. “My first top 10 of the year. It gives me confidence. I’m really pleased with what I did last week and gives me confidence for this week.
“So, it’s nice to be in America. American dream.”
Levy, who is looking to win his sixth DP World Tour title and first PGA TOUR title this week, is making his first start in this tournament but is enjoying his surroundings at Tahoe Mountain Club.
“I really like this place,” he said. “The like is beautiful, the golf course is amazing. I’m really happy to be here and just enjoying playing golf.”
One point further adrift on the leaderboard is Maximilian Kieffer who made seven birdies and an eagle in his opening 12 holes before shooting a six-under-par 65 to finish with 15 points.
Kieffer only arrived in America having played in last week’s Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club but despite suffering a little from jet lag is relishing the chance to play stateside.
“I’m glad I made the trip. It’s very nice. It’s a great golf course. Good chance for us European guys to show ourselves in America. So I’m very glad to be here.”
Asked where the format of the event impacts strategy for the rest of the week, he added: “No, I don’t think so. It’s just day by day. Four rounds is always a long tournament. So just day by day, shot by shot.
“But I’m definitely going to try and stay aggressive, try and make as many birdies as I can.”
Another player enjoying the chance to shine across the Atlantic is European Challenge Tour graduate Nathan Kimsey.
The Englishman, who won last season’s Road to Mallorca Rankings, lost in a play-off to Vincent Norrman at the Barbasol Championship and is once again in the mix after finishing day one with 13 points to sit inside the top ten.
He took some positive things out of his runner-up finish, and is hoping to carry that same form throughout the remainder of this week.
"Just big takeaways, not a letdown at all, really," said Kimsey.
"Obviously a little tough to lose in the playoff, but to do what I did for the 18 holes on Sunday to even get there was great and the whole week as great. So, yeah, first week out here on the PGA TOUR, I can't complain.
"Just nice to get out there this morning and make a few putts early. Get a good score on the board and keep it rolling from last week
"Everything's pretty tidy, to be honest. Yeah, kind of I've driven it well most of the year. Just been a little bit streaky with the putter at times. So it's been a good couple of weeks or a good week last week and a good day today with the putter. So nice to see some putts drop. Yeah, just hopefully more of the same the rest of the week."
