Charting the leader (stats entering week)

Peter Kuest (first/-8)

• Opens in 8-under 63 via two eagles on the par-5 seventh and 15th, in addition to five birdies (Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, 14) against one bogey (No. 17); ties his career-low 18-hole score, which he last recorded at the 2022 Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Hiland Dairy Foods
• Concludes Round 1 as one of two players in the field to card two eagles (Runchanapong Youprayong)
• Holds second 18-hole lead/co-lead of his Korn Ferry Tour career (previous: 2022 Price Cutter Charity Championship/finished T49)
• Earned his second top-25 finish of the season at last week’s Utah Championship; if Kuest did not finish in the top 25 last week, he would not have gained entry into this week’s field based off the priority ranking
• Has missed the cut in each of his prior two appearances at the Pinnacle Bank Championship (2022, 2024)
• Entered the week with 12 missed cuts in 17 starts this season, and has two top-25 finishes highlighted by his season-opening T15 result at The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island
• Finished No. 135 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, but earned starts on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2025 through his Nos. 151-200 finish on the PGA TOUR the prior season
• Made four starts on the PGA TOUR in 2024, beginning with the Valero Texas Open via open qualifying, and through back-to-back top-25 finishes – including a T10 in Texas – made two additional starts at the Corales Puntacana Championship (T9) followed by The CJ CUP Byron Nelson (MC), as well as the Black Desert Championship via sponsor exemption (MC)
• Earned Special Temporary Membership on the PGA TOUR during the 2022-23 season off the strength of top-25s at the 2023 CJ CUP Byron Nelson (T14), 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic (T4), and 2023 John Deere Classic (T17); he failed to accrue enough non-member FedExCup points to finish in the top 125 of the 2022-23 FedExCup Fall, relegating him to conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour for the 2024 season
• Finished No. 128 on the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Points List as a rookie, after he earned conditional membership with a T63 at Final Stage of 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament (now PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry)
• Since the start of 2022, has more top-25s on the PGA TOUR (seven) than Korn Ferry Tour (five)
• Turned professional in 2020 after four seasons at Brigham Young University (2016-20), where he won 10 individual titles, including the 2017 West Coast Conference Championship, and was named the 2019 West Coast Conference Golfer of the Year

Additional notes

• Rookie Runchanapong Youprayong (second/-7), who was the last man in the field after Scott Gutschewski withdrew the morning of Round 1, opens in 7-under 64 via two eagles (Nos. 7, 15) and four birdies (Nos. 1, 4, 14, 16) against one bogey (No. 17) to card his career-low 18-hole score.
• Bio Kim (T3/-6), a 10-time international winner who previously played three seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour (2012, 2013, 2018), stands T3 in his second start of the 2025 season after earning a spot in this week’s field via his top-25 finish at last week’s Utah Championship where he competed on a sponsor exemption.
• Korn Ferry Tour winner Matt Atkins (T3/-6) posts his low-opening round of the season and establishes his season-best 18-hole position to stand inside the top-three following the first round for the first time since the 2024 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open (T3/finished T17); Atkins finished No. 50 on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List and has made only five cuts in 20 starts this season, highlighted by a season-best T9 finish at the NV5 Invitational.
• First-year member Harry Hillier (T3/-6) posts a bogey-free 6-under 65 and stands inside the top 10 through 18 holes for the third time this season (most recent: T9/NV5 Invitational/finished T30).
• John VanDerLaan (T6/-5), who has finished inside the top 75 of the Korn Ferry Tour Points List for four consecutive seasons, stands inside the top 10 following 18 holes for the fourth time this season; VanDerLaan recorded his career-best finish at the 2023 Pinnacle Bank Championship where he earned the first runner-up result of his career.
• Four-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Robby Shelton (T6/-5), who was the 54-hole co-leader at last week’s Utah Championship and earned his third top-10 finish of the season, stands inside the top-10 following 18 holes for the fourth time this season (most recent: T10/Utah Championship/finished T7).
• Three players who entered the week inside the top 20 of the Korn Ferry Tour Points List stand inside the top 20 and ties: Sudarshan Yellamaraju (T6/-5), Julian Suri (T12/-4), and Hank Lebioda (T12/-4).
• Omaha native Luke Gutschewski (T56/-1), who is making his professional debut on the Korn Ferry Tour, opens with 1-under 70; playing on his second sponsor exemption at the Pinnacle Bank Championship after teeing it up in last year’s event alongside his father, three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Scott Gutschewski, and younger brother Trevor.