Mar 23, 2017 3 min read

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – Five days after getting married, Trey Mullinax ran off nine birdies and saved par with a 15-foot putt on his last hole for a 9-under 63 to take the lead at the Puerto Rico Open.

The first round Thursday was suspended when showers turned into heavy rain at Coco Beach Golf & Country Club and the course was too wet to continue.

Washington native and Trinity High School graduate Steve Wheatcroft had a solid opening round as well.

Wheatcroft began his round with birdies on four of the first six holes and carded a 4-under 68 to put him in a tie for 17th place.

Mullinax was coming off consecutive missed cuts in Florida when he got married Saturday to Abi Essman, whom he has dated since high school. Several of his Alabama teammates were at the wedding in Birmingham, Ala., including Justin Thomas.

And then it was off to Puerto Rico, and Mullinax posted his best round of the year. He had a one-shot lead over D.A. Points.

“Obviously, to shoot the score I shot today you have to putt well,” Mullinax said. “But it was nice to hit the ball like I feel I’ve been playing. I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball well, just haven’t been scoring. But today I hit the ball nice and it was a good result.”

Points finished his round of 64 with a 9-iron that he holed from the ninth fairway for an eagle.

“Today was the calmest day I’ve ever seen here, so it was pretty much a perfect 9-iron,” he said. “I knew I had a little backstop and I could hit it as hard as I want, and I threw it 149 yards and it spun back and went right in.”

Kjeldsen, Noren win groups: Soren Kjeldsen and Alex Noren won their groups in the Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas, one round before group play is even finished.

Rory McIlroy took the day off, and he’s already guaranteed the weekend off.

Thursday was as wild as it gets in this tournament, even without wind ripping so hard through the edge of Hill Country that Phil Mickelson chipped into the water. Holes were won with bogeys.

Andy Sullivan had a putt roll up to a foot, only for the wind to blow it back nearly 7 feet. His opponent, Brandt Snedeker, conceded the putt out of respect to the rough conditions.

Gary Woodland withdrew because of a personal matter, allowing Kjeldsen to advance. Noren got through because Francesco Molinari withdrew with a wrist injury.