SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Three weeks ago, Charlie Saxon set a career-low round on the Korn Ferry Tour with an opening-round 63 at the Albertsons Boise Open. On Thursday, he blew past that mark to set a new career-best with a 10-under 61 and take the first-round lead at the Lincoln Land Championship presented by LRS. Saxon leads Vincent Whaley by two strokes.

Competing in the first tee time of the afternoon, Saxon birdied his first three holes and five of his first eight to turn at 5-under 30. He tacked on four more in a row from Nos. 10-13 before a final one at the par-5 16th allowed him to reach double digits under par.

“I saw that it was going to be dead in the morning and pretty windy in the afternoon, so I knew I was going to have to have my best stuff today,” said Saxon. “I got off to a great start when the wind wasn’t quite at its peak…There are birdies to be had, but the wind was going to be up. But I just drove it so well and was in such good spots that I could take on some pins. I had a lot of good looks today.”

The low round was no aberration for the 27-year-old University of Oklahoma alum. Saxon has been a mainstay atop the leaderboard of late. Despite a missed cut last week, Saxon has been inside the top-10 on the leaderboard after 10 of his last 14 rounds on Tour.

“I’ve played some really good rounds lately,” exhaled Saxon. “I feel like I’m really close to breaking through. I just need to put a complete week together. I feel like I’ve had one round each week that has kept me from competing on Sunday. Why not this week?”

Saxon had an outside chance at a 59 entering the final hole, needing to hole out for eagle from the fairway for a sub-60 round. Instead he hit the green and two-putted for a 61. His roommate and frontrunner for PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, Scottie Scheffler, shot a 59 at THE NORTHERN TRUST two weeks ago.

“It was going through my mind a little bit out there, but I knew I still needed a lot of birdies coming in,” said Saxon. “It would have been fun to have a 59 to match Scottie’s 59, but I’ll take a 61 any day.”

Had he carded a sub-60 round it would have been the eighth such round in the history of the Korn Ferry Tour. Most recently, Sam Saunders carded a 59 during the 2017 Korn Ferry Tour Championship.

Saxon entered the week 51st in the Korn Ferry Tour points standings during an up-and-down season. The former Sooner missed his first four cuts of the season but has earned five top-20 finishes over his last eight starts. Saxon has competed full time on the Korn Ferry Tour over the past two seasons after winning twice on PGA TOUR Series-China in 2018. With four wins in China, he is the all-time leading money winner on that Series.

While Saxon competed in the first group of the afternoon wave, Whaley teed off in the first group of the day at 6:50 a.m. The Georgia Tech alum took advantage of calmer morning conditions with six birdies and an eagle at the par-5 16th to reach 8-under. Ryan Brehm and Ben Kohles each sit four shots off the lead and two strokes back of Whaley at 6-under 65.

The tournament will continue with the second round on Friday with tee times from 6:50 a.m. to 2 p.m. off of the first and 10th tees.