Inman’s Trent Phillips shot a solid 4-under 68 at the Carolina Country Club in the first round of the BMW.

Phillips, like almost everyone in the field, marveled at the great opening round posted by Michael Feagles at Thornblade Club.

Feagles shot an amazing 12-under par 59 to hold the first round lead.

Phillips, who is a member at Thornblade, was asked if he saw a 59 at the course when he played it.

“There are 59s out there every week, dude. You just have to make the putts and get a break or two. Who knows I might shoot a 59 tomorrow,” said Phillips.

The three time All-American at Georgia came pretty close to matching his prediction.

Starting just after daylight at Thornblade, Phillips reeled off three straight birdies to start his round and made the turn at 4-under par 32.

“I have been playing good golf, I just wasn’t putting real well,” he said. “I changed putters a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t shot over par since then,” he said.

When Phillips gets zoned in birdies come in bunches. In the second round he put five of them on his front nine scorecard.

“I kept telling myself, good golf is coming, good golf is coming and I tried to get out there and get it going as fast as possible. i came out with three straight birdies and was pretty close to making seven in a row,” he said.

Phillips added three more birdies on his second nine to shoot another 32 and finished his round at 7-under par 64 on the par 71 Thornblade Club course.

“Golf is a crazy sport, you just never know when It is going to turn around. The greens are nice and you can roll some putts in. If you can keep it in play in the right spots you can have a lot of birdie looks and you can take advantage of it,” said Phillips.

His 7-under par 64 moved him up 26 spots into a tie for sixth place at 11-under par, 5-shots behind the leader.

Josh Teater took over the lead adding a 6-under par 65 at Thornblade added to his first round 10-under par to hold a 3-shot lead over first round leader Michael Feagles and Chan Kim.

The ranks of golfers with local connections was cut down to just three.

Phillips, is joined by Clemson grads Billy Kennerly and William Nottingham who are tied for 32nd at 6-under par.

Missing the cut by a shot was Inman’s Jacob Bridgeman. The 2022 ACC Individual champions challenged for the lead last year in the event, but this year a few missed putts in his second round cost him a chance to play his own ball into the weekend.

“I would have liked to play better,” he said. “I didn’t have my best stuff. I didn’t make enough putts and it was frustrating because I know the greens and this course so well,” said Bridgeman.

His second place finish on the PGA Tour University rankings last year earned the Clemson grad eight starts on the Korn-Ferry Tour to try to earn full status on the Tour for this year.

It caused Bridgeman to press, but it allowed him to learn a lot about his game, his body and how to maximize his opportunities this year.

“I learned a lot about what my body can handle. I felt like I was pushing to make something happen. This year I’m playing a little more conservatively since I have the whole season,” offered Bridgeman.

Bridgeman’s eighth place finish in Raleigh last week kept him well within the top-30 golfers who will secure their PGA Tour card at the end of the season.

The three-time SC High School champion will play one more round as the partner of Spartanburg Sheriff Chuck Wright as the pro-am team has advanced to the amateur final on Saturday.

South Carolina Golf Association Junior Player of the Year Andrew Gregory and his professional partner Nelson Ledesma shot 7-under par, but missed the pro-am cut.

In the celebrity grouping Olympic Curling Golf Medalist Matt Hamilton and his pro partner Kyle Reifers will square off against Larry “The Cable Guy” and his pro Brandon Crick for the group title,.

The final two rounds of the tournament will be played at Thornblade Club on Saturday and Sunday,.

The Golf Channel will have final round live coverage on Sunday afternoon.

Scores from the BMW Charity Pro-Am Presented by TD Synnex: https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour/tournaments/2023/bmw-charity-pro-am-presented-by-td-synnex/H2023037/leaderboard