The Canadian shares top spot with Kevin Roy, who also carded a 62, as the pair finished one stroke clear of Ben Griffin, Chris Gotterup, John VanDerLaan and South Korea’s S.H. Kim while the closing groups completed their opening rounds.
Alex Smalley, England’s John Parry and Belgium’s Adrien Dumont de Chassart are a further shot back in a tie for seventh on 64.
Starting on the back nine, Taylor made an immediate impact by birdieing five of his opening eight holes. Pinpoint tee shots at the par-three 11th and 17th left him inside seven feet on both occasions, before he added further birdies at the 2nd, 7th and 9th to cap a polished opening round.
“Well, I think we got lucky with the forecast this morning. I expected some more wind,” Taylor said. “I hit it great, but, again, this course fits my eye. Again, with the wind (it) was even a little more so today. Irons were really sharp and was able to read the greens well.”
Taylor claimed the title last year in dramatic fashion, forcing a playoff with a stunning chip-in eagle at the 72nd hole before going on to defeat Colombia’s Nico Echavarria on the second extra hole.
Roy anchored his opening round with a run of four consecutive birdies from the 8th to the 11th. Despite posting three top-10 finishes last season, the American is still in search of his maiden PGA Tour victory.
“I had a couple butterflies on the first hole, first tournament of the season,” Roy said. “So just, yeah, it’s huge to see those putts go in. I hit really good putts and obviously fell in the bottom the cup. Just carried that momentum for the rest of the round.”
Among the notable names, Russell Henley opened with a 5-under-par 65, J.J. Spaun carded a 66, Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre signed for a 67, while Collin Morikawa had a tougher start with an even-par 72.
