By ,
Published May 02, 2016
La Jolla, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Nicholas Thompson fired an 8-under 64 on Thursday and he led by one stroke when the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open was suspended due to darkness.
Thompson, who has never won on the PGA Tour, is coming off a missed cut last week in Phoenix.
Michael Thompson, who is no relation to the leader, is one stroke back at minus-7. Last week's Phoenix Open winner Brooks Koepka opened with a 6-under 66. He was joined in third place by Cameron Tringale.
Ian Poulter, Chad Campbell, Freddie Jacobson, Jhonattan Vegas, Brendon de Jonge and Chris Kirk share fifth place at minus-5.
Play for the first two rounds is spread over the North and South Courses at Torrey Pines. The final two rounds will be played on the South Course.
There were a pair of fog delays that lasted two hours, 29 minutes. The start of the round was delayed an hour, then shortly after the round began, the fog rolled back in and play was halted again. The first round will resume at 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday with the second round starting as scheduled at noon.
Tiger Woods, a seven-time winner of this event, withdrew after 11 holes due to stiff back. He was 2-over par at the time.
Woods stumbled out of the gate with bogeys at 10 and 12, and after his tee shot on 12 began wincing in pain. He scrambled to three pars in a row from the 13th. Woods carded his first birdie at the 16th.
Around the turn, he birdied the par-5 first to get back to even-par for his round. However, he made a mess of No. 2. Woods flew the green with his short second shot, then left his third short of the green. He chipped on, but 2- putted for double-bogey.
Woods hit the green with his tee ball at the par-3 third of the North Course, but never putted.
"It's just my glutes are shutting off. Then they don't activate and then, hence, it goes into my lower back," Woods explained. "So I tried to activate my glutes as best I could, in between, but it just they never stayed activated."
Phil Mickelson, who has won this event three times, stood at 1-over par through 15 holes when play was called for the day. Dustin Johnson, who was making his first tour start since last year's Canadian Open, stood at plus-2 with one hole to play in his first round on the South Course at Torrey Pines.
Nicholas Thompson got off to a flying start as he made eagle on the par-5 first on the North Course. He came right back with a birdie on the second.
The 33-year-old stayed at minus-3 as he ran off six consecutive pars from the third. Thompson climbed to 5-under thanks to birdies at nine and 10.
After stumbling to a bogey on the par-3 12th, Thompson poured in three consecutive birdies to jump into the lead at minus-7. He capped his round with a birdie at the par-5 18th.
"I played a really good round. I missed maybe one or two fairways, I think I missed only one green and hit a lot of good golf shots. Even the shots that were played safe, I hit them to the right spots," Thompson stated. "I had a lot of good looks. I didn't make many long putts, I made a 20-footer on the first for eagle. After that, I had a lot of good opportunities."
Michael Thompson started with birdies at the first and second, but he followed with a bogey on the third. He erased that mistake with a birdie at No. 3.
The 2013 Honda Classic winner also birdied the ninth and 10th. He moved to minus-5 with a birdie at 14. Thompson moved within a shot of the lead with birdies at 17 and 18.
NOTES: Nicholas Thompson is the older brother of LPGA star Lexi Thompson ... Nicholas matched his career low round on the PGA Tour ... Defending champion Scott Stallings posted a 2-under 70 on the North Course ... Of the players that finished, there were three bogey-free rounds.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/nicholas-thompson-leads-by-1-at-torrey-pines