Golf: Conners and Henderson get off to a good start on their revenge project

The Canadian duo of Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners find themselves in second place at the Grant Thornton Invitational after the first round played on Friday.

The Ontario pair hit two eagles late in the round before narrowly missing a birdie on the 18th hole at Tiburon Golf Club. They handed in a card of 59, tied with Akshay Bhatia and Jennifer Kupcho to start this competition which includes 16 mixed teams bringing together players from the PGA and the LPGA.

Henderson and Conners (-13) finished second last year in the first edition.

At the front, UCLA alumni Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanakit made birdies on each of the first nine holes to take a lead over the rest of the field.

Defending champions Lydia Ko and Jason Day shot 62 after being slowed by a bogey on the third hole, a rare occurrence in the format scramble.

On his 36th birthday, Rickie Fowler is -11 with Lexi Thompson, who gave him a cake.

The second round will be broadcast on RDS and on RDS.ca on Saturday from 3 p.m.