China’s Carl Yuan made a fast start and just kept going in the first round of The Panama Championship, shooting a 5-under par 65 to finish one stroke behind early leader Jimmy Stanger. Yuan’s birdie-birdie start, and two more at holes 6 and 7, came either side of a bogey at the par-4 5th, the only blemish on his scorecard. An eagle on the par-5 12th was the highlight of an error-free back nine, which left him in a six-way tie for second at Panama Golf Club on Friday (HKT). Leaderboard through the first round @ClubGolfPanama . 💪 pic.twitter.com/glQzDjv3u5 — Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) February 4, 2022 Stanger was equally quick out of the blocks, rattling in three birdies in his first four holes, and scoring of those at the top of the leader board was all the more impressive considering the course is one of the toughest on the Korn Ferry Tour . It featured five of the hardest holes relative to par during the Tour’s 2019 season, and has had the highest scoring average on several occasions. Given that, and the fact it is the first time Stanger has held a first round lead, and the American was rightly happy with his performance. “This is a really tough golf course,” he said. “You’ve got to hit some quality shots. I hit some great shots the first three holes, and stayed in a good mindset, never really got ahead of myself, and never stopped hitting quality shots.” Playing his fourth season on the Tour and making his 86th start, Stanger is still chasing his first win, and is all too aware of the position he finds himself in. “If I can just hit quality shots, make the move I want to in the golf swing, and get out of my own head … I definitely thought over the last putt, ‘hey, you haven’t led a tournament after the first round’,” he said. “If I can keep those thoughts out of my head and focus on the moment, I’ll be just fine.”