Red-hot Lee Hodges leads PGA Tour's 3M Open

Lee Hodges leads the 3M Open...

The American fired a sizzling eight under 63 around TPC Twin Cities in Minneapolis on Thursday, enough for a one stroke lead over former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, Brandt Snedeker, Kevin Streelman and Tyler Duncan.

Teeing off in the calm of the morning, Hodges enjoyed a fast start, rolling in birdies on the opening two par fours before making the turn at four under. He carded four more birdies coming home for a flawless round.

"To see that wedge shot go to an inch on the first hole and then make that 40-footer on the second hole, I was like, 'All right, here we go, might as well make a lot of birdies if we're gonna make a couple,'" Hodges told pgatour.com.

Also taking advantage of the morning conditions was Japanese star Matsuyama, who birdied four of his last five holes.

"It got really hot out there on the back nine," said the 2021 Masters winner.

"I'll relax this afternoon and hopefully get ready to play well again tomorrow."

Further down the field, defending champion Tony Finau started on the back nine and was five under after his opening four holes, but two bogeys coming home set him back.

"I didn't miss a shot for the first seven holes really," said the world number 19.

"That was a pretty hot start, it was a nice way to start my title defence this week and kind of calmed my nerves."

Former world number one Justin Thomas endured windy conditions in the afternoon to card a 69..

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