WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Webb Simpson ran out of sensational shots in the end to keep him from joining an elite group.
Simpson shot a 9-under-par 61 for a one-stroke lead over Whee Kim after the first round of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier in West Virginia on Thursday.
Simpson posted his best career score after shaking off a two-hour weather delay with six holes left in his round. He came up short in his bid to shoot the eighth sub-60 round on the PGA Tour. Needing birdies on the par-5 17th and the par-3 18th for a 59, he parred both.
“I knew a 59 was in there, but it’s all right,” Simpson said. “Great start. Scores were good though, so you’ve got to keep the pedal down.”
Kim had back-to-back bogeys on the front nine on the Old White TPC, and then ran off five birdies over a seven-hole stretch. The South Korean had 10 birdies overall and shot 62. Teenager Joaquin Niemann of Chile was another stroke back at 7-under 63.
Kelly Kraft shot 64 while Jason Kokrak, Keegan Bradley and J.J. Henry were at 65.
Playing in the afternoon, Simpson had three consecutive birdies around the turn, then chipped in for eagle on the par-5 12th to move to 7 under. A few minutes later, the horn sounded stopping play just as he was hitting his tee shot on the par-4 13th. The shot landed on a hillside.
“Momentum is a funny thing, but I should feel good when I got back out there,” Simpson said during the delay.
After play resumed, Simpson’s pitch from the hill went across the 13th fairway into tall fescue. His approach shot landed 3 feet from the pin and he escaped with par. He added birdies on the par-4 14th and 16th holes.
Simpson, whose four-shot victory at The Players Championship in May was his first win in more than four years, has seen his share of chances in West Virginia before. He finished third in 2014 and lost a one-stroke lead on the back nine in the final round in 2011 and 2012.
He’s got several youngsters chasing him.
The 26-year-old Kim has never won on the PGA Tour, losing in a three-way playoff in Las Vegas in November.
The 19-year-old Niemann had his lowest score in nine PGA Tour starts this season. Niemann played in this tournament a year ago as an amateur, shot 64 in the final round and tied for 29th place.
“I’m one of the youngest out here so I feel like I’ve got nothing to lose,” Niemann said. “My game was feeling really good and my putter was good. So all my game was good today.”
Defending champion Xander Schauffele was among a large group at 4-under 66. That also includes Phil Mickelson, playing in his first tournament since the U.S. Open, when he intentionally violated golf rules by hitting a moving ball on the 13th green in the third round. He later apologized, saying his anger and frustration got the best of him.
Mickelson missed the cut at The Greenbrier in three of his four previous appearances.
Bubba Watson, starting on the back nine, jammed his wrist on a bunker shot on No. 11. He finished the round and shot 2-under 68.
“It was one of those things where it stung, but I knew it would loosen up over time,” he said. “Once you make a birdie, it’s good.”

PGA Tour-A Military Tribute
at the Greenbrier Scores
Thursday
At The Greenbrier (The Old White TPC)
White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
Purse: $7.3 million
Yardage: 7,286; Par: 70 (34-36)
First Round
Webb Simpson 31-30 — 61
Whee Kim 30-32 — 62
Joaquin Niemann 32-31 — 63
Kelly Kraft 31-33 — 64
Keegan Bradley 34-31 — 65
J.J. Henry 32-33 — 65
Jason Kokrak 33-32 — 65
Chad Campbell 31-34 — 65
Steve Wheatcroft 33-33 — 66
Tom Hoge 33-33 — 66
Austin Cook 29-37 — 66
Xander Schauffele 31-35 — 66
Ryan Moore 31-35 — 66
Billy Hurley III 32-34 — 66
Ollie Schniederjans 34-32 — 66
Harold Varner III 32-34 — 66
Robert Streb 30-36 — 66
Zecheng Dou 35-31 — 66
David Lingmerth 33-33 — 66
Kevin Chappell 32-34 — 66
Phil Mickelson 34-32 — 66
Brandt Snedeker 33-33 — 66
Stephan Jaeger 32-34 — 66
Steve Marino 33-34 — 67
Danny Lee 34-33 — 67
Fabian Gomez 34-33 — 67
Dominic Bozzelli 32-35 — 67
Abraham Ancer 36-31 — 67
Cameron Percy 33-34 — 67
Joel Dahmen 32-35 — 67
Blayne Barber 32-35 — 67
Jonathan Randolph 32-35 — 67
Brett Stegmaier 33-34 — 67
Anirban Lahiri 33-34 — 67
Corey Conners 32-35 — 67
Harris English 34-33 — 67
Ryan Armour 31-36 — 67
Peter Malnati 33-34 — 67
Brian Harman 34-33 — 67
Tony Finau 31-36 — 67
Jamie Lovemark 33-34 — 67
Bronson Burgoon 32-35 — 67
Denny McCarthy 34-33 — 67
Sam Saunders 34-34 — 68
J.J. Spaun 34-34 — 68
John Merrick 33-35 — 68
James Hahn 33-35 — 68
Jim Furyk 34-34 — 68
Charles Howell III 32-36 — 68
Bubba Watson 34-34 — 68
Tyrone Van Aswegen 32-36 — 68
Michael Thompson 32-36 — 68
Ben Silverman 33-35 — 68
Adam Schenk 34-34 — 68
Martin Piller 35-33 — 68
Tyler Duncan 36-32 — 68
David Hearn 34-34 — 68
Zac Blair 34-34 — 68
Alex Cejka 33-35 — 68
Russell Henley 32-36 — 68
Johnson Wagner 34-34 — 68
Ryan Blaum 31-37 — 68
John Peterson 35-33 — 68
Andrew Putnam 34-35 — 69
Brice Garnett 33-36 — 69
Mackenzie Hughes 35-34 — 69
Matt Every 34-35 — 69
Dicky Pride 34-35 — 69
Bill Haas 34-35 — 69
Ben Crane 35-34 — 69
Norman Xiong 33-36 — 69
T.J. Vogel 33-36 — 69
Wes Homan 33-36 — 69
J.T. Poston 35-34 — 69
Keith Mitchell 32-37 — 69
William McGirt 34-35 — 69
Nick Watney 31-38 — 69
Wesley Bryan 34-35 — 69
Vijay Singh 34-35 — 69
Kevin Kisner 33-36 — 69
Hudson Swafford 34-35 — 69
Kevin Na 34-35 — 69
Talor Gooch 30-39 — 69
Rory Sabbatini 32-37 — 69
Lanto Griffin 32-37 — 69
Ethan Tracy 32-37 — 69
Will Claxton 33-36 — 69
Scott Brown 36-34 — 70
Seamus Power 36-34 — 70
Scott Piercy 36-34 — 70
Jonas Blixt 36-34 — 70
Aaron Wise 35-35 — 70
Patton Kizzire 32-38 — 70
Brian Gay 33-37 — 70
Steven Bowditch 33-37 — 70
Derek Fathauer 35-35 — 70
Blake Taylor 37-33 — 70
Tommy Gainey 33-37 — 70
J.B. Holmes 35-35 — 70
Patrick Rodgers 35-35 — 70
Scott Stallings 36-34 — 70
Nicholas Lindheim 34-36 — 70
David S. Bradshaw 33-37 — 70
Tom Lovelady 34-36 — 70
Roberto Diaz 34-36 — 70
Sam Ryder 38-32 — 70
Logan Lagodich 33-37 — 70
Jason Gore 33-38 — 71
Richy Werenski 36-35 — 71
Stuart Appleby 34-37 — 71
Parker McLachlin 36-35 — 71
Michael Kim 37-34 — 71
Vaughn Taylor 33-38 — 71
Jonathan Byrd 34-37 — 71
Andrew Yun 35-36 — 71
Omar Uresti 36-35 — 71
Rob Oppenheim 33-38 — 71
George McNeill 35-36 — 71
Trey Mullinax 37-34 — 71
Nick Taylor 37-34 — 71
Daniel Summerhays 32-39 — 71
Cameron Tringale 33-38 — 71
C.T. Pan 34-37 — 71
Ken Duke 36-35 — 71
Chris Couch 34-37 — 71
Xinjun Zhang 33-38 — 71
Kevin Streelman 34-38 — 72
Shawn Stefani 36-36 — 72
John Huh 35-37 — 72
Sam O’Dell 37-35 — 72
Tim Herron 35-37 — 72
Chris Stroud 35-37 — 72
Brandon Harkins 36-36 — 72
Matt Jones 36-36 — 72
Bob Estes 36-36 — 72
Matt Atkins 36-36 — 72
Martin Flores 34-39 — 73
Ted Potter, Jr. 35-38 — 73
Brian Davis 37-36 — 73
Kyle Thompson 35-38 — 73
Ricky Barnes 36-37 — 73
Chase Seiffert 36-37 — 73
Davey Jude 36-37 — 73
Robert Allenby 36-38 — 74
Sean O’Hair 36-38 — 74
Robert Garrigus 38-36 — 74
Conrad Shindler 39-35 — 74
Devin Gee 36-38 — 74
Cody Gribble 38-37 — 75
Troy Matteson 38-37 — 75
Jimmy Walker 35-40 — 75
Geoff Ogilvy 37-38 — 75
Jon Curran 37-40 — 77
John Daly 35-42 — 77
Brendon de Jonge 41-37 — 78
Smylie Kaufman 39-40 — 79