"Come out and shoot 7 under. Like, what the hell? Like, how is that possible. Like, it's so weird."

Fowler had the opposite-type round as Montgomery, starting slow and finishing strong.

Fowler, who last year snapped a four-plus-year winless drought at the Rocket, was 2 under early on his front nine, then made nine straight pars while everyone around him was making birdies.

Fowler then birdied four of his last five holes, including, of course, the 18th, draining a 14-foot, 5-inch putt for a closing birdie. He birdied the 18th twice on Sunday last year, once at the end of regulation to get into a playoff and then again the playoff to raise the trophy.

"I definitely made a handful of birdies there," said Fowler, 35, who's struggled since winning the Rocket last year, though he did find something on the greens a week ago at the Travelers to give him a little glimmer of hope his game was rounding back into form. "See if we can keep the streak going.

"That's at least three in a row."

The pairing of Fowler, Zalatoris, 27, and 2022 Rocket Mortgage Classic champion Cam Davis (68) shot a combined 16 under par, before the largest gallery out on the course. Zalatoris drained a 30-foot birdie putt down the hill on the 18th hole to delight the crowd, before Fowler stepped right up and doubled the fun.

It's a good start, but only a start, with a whole lot of capable chasers.

Chief among them is Young, who had three bogeys and an eagle at the par-5 14th for a flawless 67. He finished tied for second at DGC in 2022, the only previous time he's played the Rocket. Hard to believe then that he'd still be winless now, though he's also trending, after firing a blistering 59 at the Travelers Championship last week.

"It's a really nice test," Young said of DGC, which was playing tricky in the morning, with soft conditions and every par 5 playing into the wind. "The scoring tends to be pretty good, but at the same time it's not like it's wide open, (not like) the greens are all flat. People are just really good at golf, and it's one of those places that if you do get comfortable, you do have some wedges and you do have some attackable holes.

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