Bridgeman leads at 8 under par; Lee Sang-hee tied for 52nd

Im Sung-jae tees off on the 12th hole during the first round of the PGA Tour's Baycurrent Classic at Yokohama Country Club in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, on Thursday. [Getty Images]
Im Sung-jae tees off on the 12th hole during the first round of the PGA Tour's Baycurrent Classic at Yokohama Country Club in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, on Thursday. [Getty Images]

Im Sung-jae opened the Baycurrent Classic — a PGA Tour fall series event in Asia with an $8 million purse — tied for 26th place Thursday.

Im carded five birdies and three bogeys for a 2-under-par 69 at Yokohama Country Club (par 71) in Japan. He sits six strokes behind sole leader Jacob Bridgeman of the United States, who fired an 8-under 63.

Starting on the 10th hole, Im traded two birdies for two bogeys on his front nine and made no net progress. He picked up birdies on the first (par 4), third (par 3) and sixth (par 5) holes on the back nine, but gave one back with a bogey on the seventh (par 3).

Im missed out on the Tour Championship, the PGA Tour's playoff finale, this season and rested after competing in last month's Presidents Cup. He plans to continue his fall schedule with events in Macau and South Korea after this week's tournament.

Bridgeman has won twice on the PGA Tour this season and contributed to the United States team's victory at last month's Presidents Cup.

The field features several top-ranked players, including world No. 5 Wyndham Clark, No. 10 Xander Schauffele and No. 11 Collin Morikawa. Schauffele won this event last year.

Lee Sang-hee, who earned his spot in the field as the No. 2 points earner on the Japan Golf Tour, finished the day tied for 52nd after posting four birdies and five bogeys for a 1-over-par 72.


yjc@heraldcorp.com