DETROIT – From going fishing to top of the leaderboard at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Peter Kuest, a 25-year-old BYU grad with limited status on the Korn Ferry Tour, shot 8-under 64 at Detroit Golf Club to sit atop the leaderboard after the first round with Taylor Moore, who notched his first PGA Tour title earlier this year.
Kuest was the medalist at Monday’s Qualifier, earning one of the final four spots into the 156-man field. Ranked 789th in the world, Kuest is making his fourth Tour start of the season. He received a sponsor’s exemption into the AT&T Byron Nelson and finished T-14 in May.
On Thursday, he rang the birdie bell six times on the front nine and made just one bogey in posting 64 as he attempts to become the first Monday qualifier to win on the Tour since Corey Conners at the 2021 Valero Texas Open.
Kuest, who grew up in Fresno, California, ranked first in driving distance, averaging 318.6 yards per poke and hit 12 fairways and 15 greens. Asked what he would have been doing had he not made it through qualifying, he said, “Probably fishing back in Utah.”
Here are four more things to know from the first round in the Motor City.