Branden Grace’s bogey-free 63 good for WGC lead

South African Branden Grace missed the course record by a stroke and grabbed the first-round lead at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, China, after a bogey-free 63 on Thursday.

“Barely had a breath of wind out there and the golf course is playing probably as easy as it could be playing,” Grace said. “There’s some low scores out there. The guys are playing some great golf, and when you play on greens like this, it helps. You just have to get the ball on the right line and it goes in. It was fun.”

Grace was 9-under, the lowest round in his PGA TOUR career and just short of Martin Kaymer’s course-record 62 in 2014. The opening-round 63 was the lowest first-round score in the 11-year history of the WGC.

A group of three players were one shot off the lead. Kevin Kisner fired a bogey-free 64, Australian Steven Bowditch and Thorbjorn Olesen all stand at 8-under entering the second round.

Dustin Johnson recovered from a penalty for landing in the center of a water hazard and ended with a 65, two shots behind Grace.

Defending champion Bubba Watson is 4-under and celebrated his 37th birthday Thursday with four birdies and eight pars. Watson eagled the 72nd hold in 2014 and won a playoff with Tim Clark.

Rory McIlroy, who said he lost 10 pounds after a bout of food poisoning, pulled himself together Thursday to card a 68, including six birdies. McIlroy said afterward the round was much better than he expected given his physical weakness.

“I had not been out of bed for basically 48 hours, so I was really stiff. But whenever I got out there, I felt pretty good. Thankfully, it was a decent start, and now going to try to just get into the tournament,” he said.

Last season’s top player, Jordan Spieth, matched McIlroy’s score and also had six birdies. Spieth said he hadn’t touched his clubs for two weeks since returning from South Korea and the Presidents Cup.