Points leads Shell Houston Open by 1

Humble, TX – D.A. Points carded an 8-under 64 on Thursday to grab the lead following the first round at the Shell Houston Open.

Points holds a 1-stroke edge over Cameron Tringale and John Rollins, who each fired a 7-under 65 at Redstone Golf Club's Tournament Course to share second place.

"I mean, they're not super difficult holes, but if you hit it where you're looking and you leave it in the right spot, you make a good stroke, you give yourself good chances to make birdies," Points said about the course. "And today I finally saw some balls go in the hole and I played the par-5 real well."

Jason Kokrak and Angel Cabrera are tied for third place with matching 6-under 66s.

Steve Wheatcroft joined Tringale and Rollins at 7-under after a stretch of eight birdies in 10 holes starting at the fourth, but bogeyed two of his final five holes to fall three strokes off the pace.

He is joined by Jeff Overton and Brian Davis in sixth place at 5-under 67.

Points started on the back nine with one of the early groups and quickly made his move up the leaderboard by opening his round with five straight birdies, including a pair of putts from over 11 feet.

After parring the next two holes, he hit the turn at 6-under by rolling in a 55-foot birdie putt at the 17th.

He converted another lengthy putt at the third with a 36-foot birdie effort, but countered that with his lone bogey of the day at the fifth.

Points then hit his first shot at the par-3 seventh into a bunker following a par at the sixth, but he was able to hole his next shot from 27 yards out for another birdie.

He followed that with a 5-foot birdie putt at the eighth and closed his round with a par to take the clubhouse lead.

"You know, it was one of those rounds where I felt like I was going to putt pretty well because I changed the putter and had a putting lesson and was feeling pretty good," said Points, who used his mother's old putter during his round.

Tringale opened his bogey-free round with three straight pars before pouring in a 3-foot birdie putt at the fourth.

He then converted back-to-back birdie putts of seven and five feet at the seventh and eighth holes, respectively, and opened his inward nine with three straight birdies from the 10th to get in striking distance of Points.

He later rolled in a 62-foot birdie putt at the 14th to get within a stroke of the lead, but closed his round with four pars to remain in second place.

Rollins also went bogey free while recording seven birdies in his first round, starting with a short birdie putt at the first.

He followed that with a 10-foot birdie effort at the third, and moved to 3- under with a 6-foot birdie putt at the eighth.

After parring the ninth and 10th, he opened a streak of five birdies in seven holes by rolling in a 31-foot putt at the 11th.

He capped the run with a 10-foot birdie putt at the 16th to reach 7-under, but he would get no closer to Points as Rollins ended his day with a couple of pars.

"You saw the scores were pretty good from the morning wave, but you know, honestly nobody has ever gotten a check on Thursday that I can recall or any trophies or anything," said Rollins. "So it's just one of those things where you just want to play a solid round of golf, get the tournament started off well, and then, you know, see what happens, and today I just happened to get a good one out of it."

NOTES: Points also used his mother's putter when he won a pair of tournaments on the Web.com Tour in 2004 ... Other than tying for eighth place at the Humana Challenge, Kokrak has not finished inside the top 70 in his seven other starts this season ... Rollins is seeking his first win since the 2009 Legends Reno-Tahoe Open ... Defending champion Hunter Mahan carded a 2-over 74 in his first round and sits in a tie for 106th place ... If not previously eligible, the winner of this event will receive an invitation to the Masters ... Erik Compton withdrew after carding an 8-over 80 in his first round.