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Brendan Steele leads at The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP Day 1 highlights

Chiba, Japan. On a cold and blustery day at Narashino Country Club, Brendan Steele leads the 2022 ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP after round 1. 

last year's runner-up, Steele carded a -6 under 64, his best round to date at the tournament. In 2nd place at -5 under, Adam Schenk is coming off a good run of form, securing a T12 last week at the Shriners Children’s Open.

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama had a frustrating 1 over par and is currently 41st in the standings. Of the other 16 Japanese players in the field, Kazuki Higa got off to the best start, shot a 3 under 67, and is currently T6 for the championship.

Also on T6, a large group included a resurgent Rickie Fowler (making his 299th tour start), and Tokyo Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele. Also T6, Mito Pereira leads a group of 10 members from the 2022 Presidents Cup International Team in the field: Christiaan Bezuidenhout (T11), last week's winner Tom Kim (T29), Cam Davis (T29), Si Woo Kim (T41), Sungjae Im (T41), Hideki Matsuyama (T41), K.H. Lee (T41), Sebastian Munoz (T55) and Corey Conners (T61).

Although the weather is set to be wet again with showers forecast in the morning, dry and warmer weather will follow in the afternoon and will remain dry, making for more scoreable conditions heading into the weekend. 

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