Spectacular bogey-free 65 propels Danny King to lead at PGA Head Professional Championship of Canada

(Cancun, Mexico) – Not satisfied with his two wins at the PGA Head Professional Championship of Canada presented by Callaway Golf and supported by G&G Brands, 2015 and 2006 champ Danny King has his eyes set on another title – firing an opening-day 65 to lead by two over Gordon Burns at Playa Paraiso in Cancun, Mexico.

The teaching professional out of the Performance Academy at Magna began scoring early and often, making a birdie on the 6th hole (his first of the day), before hitting it to 8 feet and making the putt on the par-5 7th.

Three holes later, King found himself five-under through six holes and cruised the rest of the way, adding two more birdies down the stretch.

“It’s the type of golf course that you have to keep it in the fairway because if you hit it in the rough you can get some funny lies with some mud on it,” said King. “So, I was trying to see how many fairways I could hit today.”

King is no stranger to the top of the leaderboard at this event. Prior to last year’s 16th place finish, King was the runner-up at the event in back-to-back playings - in 2021 and 2019; 2020 was – well – a wash for everyone because of – you know.

The fifth-ranked player currently on the PGA Player Rankings supported by ECCO Golf, King leads the only player ahead of him in the field on the list – Burns at spot number 4.

In addition to hitting nearly every fairway on Thursday, King looked at home on the Cancun greens.

“It is key to know where to be on the greens, you want to be reading the grain properly to get aggressive with the putting,” said King. “The key word today was acceptance and enjoying it and having some fun.

“I’ve been working pretty hard on my game this year – it didn’t show in all the majors – but it is coming to and I’m really enjoying it.”

Echoing what others in the field have said this week, King was complementary of the course, as well as the host resort, Iberostar Selection Paraiso Maya Resort.

“It is unbelievable, the venue and staff and course conditions are world class. I hope we can come back for years to come,” said King.

As for the race for low club pro, Georgian Bay Club Head Professional Greg Colekessian fired a 1-under par 71 to lead by two over Marc Hurtubise.

There aren’t many other ways to sum up the race for the InterZone championship title than by simply stating that it is not close (but, there is still time). The PGA of Ontario Zone had one of the best days in the history of the championship. The three counting team members – King, Burns and Ed Maunder – are the top three players currently on the leaderboard.

The Ontario Zone holds a 24-stroke lead over the team from Quebec.

The eighth hole was deemed the “NoSweat Hardest Hole of the Day” for the first round of the tournament. For the first time in “NoSweat Hardest Hole of the Day” history, we do not need to do a draw as only one player made birdie on the hole.

Congrats to James Skrypec – who is currently T5 - on the $150 bonus.

The second round will once again be a shotgun format, with players teeing off at 8:30 AM