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In an alternate universe, Peter Kuest probably would've been fishing Thursday afternoon, perhaps close to his American Fork home on the Provo River rather than on the ground in Detroit.
He'll take this universe, though.
The former BYU star from Fresno, California, shot one stroke off his PGA Tour career-best to lead the Rocket Mortgage Classic, to tie for the lead at 8-under-par 64 in just his 10th start Thursday at the Detroit Golf Club.
"We played really solid, we did it all pretty well," said Kuest, who qualified via playoff Monday when his opponent was cited for having 15 clubs in his bag. "We chipped one in on the front, hit a bunch of fairways, hit a bunch of greens, rolled a couple putts in. Just kept it simple."
Kuest opened his round with back-to-back birdies and went under-par on six of his first nine holes en route to finishing tied for first with Taylor Moore at 8-under. The 25-year-old former Utah Open champion carded nine birdies with one bogey on the best round of the day.
The finish marked Kuest's second-best round of the year, and the best since shooting 63 in the final round of the AT&T Byron Nelson to finished tied for 14th for $163,875 in winnings
He also added a T57 finish at the RBC Canadian Open, his third start on the PGA Tour in a season where he has full status on the developmental Korn Ferry Tour, but hasn't used it yet.
"It gave me a lot of confidence," Guest said of his finish at the Byron Nelson. "The tournament committee gave me a spot there, so that was nice — really grateful for that. To go play well, it was a bonus. It solidifies that I can play out here. Now it's just doing it week in and week out."
Rose Park native Tony Finau, the defending Rocket Mortgage Classic champion, got off to a slow start playing the first three holes at 2-over. But the West High graduate rallied with four birdies on the day to finish at even-par 72 in a tie for 106th.
Former BYU golfer Zac Blair, who qualified for Detroit with his T2 finish at last week's Travelers Championship, shot 3-over 75 in his opening round.
Kuest will tee off in Friday's second round in the afternoon flight at 12:11 p.m. MDT on the back nine at Detroit Golf Club. Blair will also tee off on the back at 6:35 a.m. MDT, while Finau will begin at 11:05 a.m. MDT on No. 1.
