Samuel Anderson holds one-stroke lead after Round 1 at UNC Health Championship

Charting the leader (stats entering week)

Samuel Anderson

(First/-7)

• Cards career-low round of 7-under 63, highlighted by eagles at the par-4 fourth and par-5 eighth, for a one-stroke lead (previous career-low round: 64, three times/2025 Veritex Bank Championship, Rounds 2 and 3; 118th Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro, Round 1)
• Holds his second career 18-hole lead/co-lead in what is his 14th career start on the Korn Ferry Tour (previous: T1/118th Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro/finished T20)
• Korn Ferry Tour rookie with one top-10 in 12 starts this season (T10/Veritex Bank Championship)
• Finished No. 15 in the 2024 Fortinet Cup standings on PGA TOUR Americas, and earned Korn Ferry Tour membership for the 2025 season with a T50 at Final Stage of 2024 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry
• Played the 2022 and 2023 seasons on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica
• Turned professional in 2021 after four seasons at University of Wisconsin (2017-21), where he finished with a 74.53 career scoring average and two runner-up finishes

Additional notes

• Two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Justin Suh (T2/-6), who was the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year, opens in 6-under 64, marking his second score of 64 or lower in his last three rounds on Tour (63/Round 3/Visit Knoxville Open); his victory at the 118th Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro earlier this season earned him an exemption for the upcoming 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
• Three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Pierceson Coody (T2/-6) matches his season-high 18-hole position (T2/The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island/finished T7); he has three top-10s in five starts on Tour this season, in addition to five made cuts in eight starts on the PGA TOUR this season.
• Class of 2022 Korn Ferry Tour graduate Philip Knowles (T2/-6) opens in 6-under 64, marking his first round in the 60s on Tour since a 69 in Round 2 of the 2024 Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron.
• Class of 2023 Korn Ferry Tour graduate Wilson Furr (T2/-6) ends a streak of 10 consecutive rounds in the 70s with 6-under 64.
• Four-time PGA TOUR winner Martin Laird (T2/-6) opens with 6-under 64 in his first Korn Ferry Tour start since the 2020 Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS.
• Brandon Berry (T2/-6), who entered the week with nine consecutive missed cuts, cards a career-low round of 6-under 64 (previous: 65/2025 The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island/Round 3).
• Duke University alum Julian Suri (T8/-5) paces the players in the field with ties to the state of North Carolina, followed by Campbell University alum Pontus Nyholm (T17/-4), who won last week’s Visit Knoxville Open for his first Korn Ferry Tour title, Raleigh native and University of North Carolina alum Carter Jenkins (T17/-4), and High Point native Thomas Walsh (T17/-4).
• Mark Lawrence Jr. (T8/-5), who gained entry to the field via a top-25 finish as an open qualifier at last week’s Visit Knoxville Open, cards his fourth consecutive round in the 60s.