American journeyman Vaughn Taylor, making a long-awaited return to form, birdied five of his last seven holes to rocket into a tie for the lead in Thursday’s opening round of the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut.
 Taylor, whose 2016 campaign has veered between the brilliant and the frustrating, fired a six-under-par 64 on a sunny day at TPC River Highlands to set the tournament pace with compatriots Andrew Loupe and Jerry Kelly.
 Spaniard Jon Rahm, competing in his fifth PGA Tour event since turning professional in June, eagled the par-five 13th on the way to a 65, ending the round level with Australian Marc Leishman and American Ben Martin.
 Twice Masters champion Bubba Watson, who won the Travelers Championship for a second time last year at one of his most treasured venues, launched his title defence with a 67.
 “I hit a lot of quality shots and hit a lot of greens, which you need to do around here,” Watson told reporters after being grouped with Matt Kuchar (69) and Patrick Reed (70), who will join him on the US Olympic team in Rio de Janeiro next week. “We’re good friends and we had a blast out there. Having a pairing like that, no matter if we were going to Rio or not, it’s a fun pairing.”
 Taylor, who has missed nine cuts on the PGA Tour since clinching his third career victory on the US circuit at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, caught fire on his back nine after reaching the turn in one-under 34.
 With his approach play in sparkling order, he reeled off five consecutive birdies from the par-four 12th to surge up the leaderboard.
 “I hit a good fairway bunker shot on nine, hit a good putt there and just kind of got things going,” Taylor, 40, told PGA Tour Radio. “I was feeling good... you just get on a run sometimes and just kind of ride it.”
 Taylor could certainly do with an extended run of good form, having finished no better than joint-33rd since he ended a PGA Tour title drought of more than a decade with his Pebble Beach win.
 “I thought coming out of Pebble my game was ready but it just wasn’t quite there,” said Taylor, who missed five successive cuts after his triumph in February. “I thought I was just going to keep it rolling but that’s golf, just when you think you’ve got it, you’ve got to re-assess. It’s good this week... hopefully it will keep going.”
 Meanwhile, Father Time isn’t preventing Kelly from turning back the clock. American Kelly, who is four months away from qualifying for the senior golf tour, is making a run at his first PGA Tour win in seven years.
 The 49-year-old from Madison, Wisconsin, turned heads by shooting a six-under 64 to share the first-round lead. “I hit a lot of good shots,” said Kelly, who has missed the cut in four of his last five tournaments.
 “I also putted well. I hit a couple good shots that would roll off the greens, and then I would have very tough up and downs. I use the putter a lot from off the green, which I’m fairly good at. It’s tough up and downs on some of these when you short side yourself.”
 Kelly has three career PGA Tour wins, the most recent coming in the 2009 Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
 Entering the tournament, Kelly was struggling with his game.
 He missed the cut at the Byron
Nelson, Dean and Deluca Invitational, St. Jude Classic and Barbasol Championship before tying for 26th in the Canadian Open.
 He is looking ahead to a full-time PGA Champions senior schedule but hopes to still make some noise on the regular circuit.
 “I can’t say goodbye. There are four or five tournaments that have a pull on me,” he said. “I will definitely stick around and play those.”
 Kelly is not going to the Rio Olympics once the tournament is over, but three other Americans in the field are, including world number six Watson who is the highest-ranked player taking part this week. Patrick Reed and Matt Kuchar are the other US Olympians.
 Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen, Germany’s Alex Cejka and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington are also Rio bound.

Leading first-round scores
64 — Vaughn Taylor, Andrew Loupe, Jerry Kelly
65 — Ben Martin, Marc Leishman (AUS), Jon Rahm (ESP)
66 — Daniel Berger, Carlos Ortiz (MEX)
67 — Steve Marino, Rory Sabbatini (RSA), Russell Knox (SCO), David Toms, Brooks Koepka, Vijay Singh (FIJ), Keegan Bradley, Rob Oppenheim, Hudson Swafford, Tyrone Van Aswegen (RSA), Gary Woodland, Zach Johnson, Bubba Watson, Robert Garrigus, Jamie Lovemark
(USA unless stated, par-70 course)

Ryder Cup hopefuls Wood, Fitzpatrick win in matchplay
In Gullane, Scotland, English duo Chris Wood and Matthew Fitzpatrick boosted their Ryder Cup hopes with wins in the opening round of the Paul Lawrie MatchPlay on Thursday.
 Top seed Wood claimed a 4&3 win over Australia’s Brett Rumford to set up a second-round meeting on Friday with fellow countryman Daniel Brooks at the Archerfield Links near Gullane on Scotland’s east coast.
 The winner of that match will face 36 holes as the round of 16 was brought forward in anticipation of high winds.
 Woods is looking for a victory this week to cement his place on the European Ryder Cup team for Hazeltine before he goes off to get married later this month.
 Meanwhile, Fitzpatrick beat Ryder Cup vice-captain Thomas Bjorn 4&3 to set up a second-round tie against Matt Ford. Battling to make it onto Darren Clarke’s team for the September 30-October 2 event, Fitzpatrick was six up after nine holes against Bjorn and held off a fightback to beat the veteran Dane.
 “I played really nicely and made quite a few birdies on the front nine. It was good to get off to that fast start and sort of just hold it together on the back nine,” Fitzpatrick told europeantour.com. “I think it was a good day and I’m just delighted to get the win in the first round.”
 Recent Scottish Open winner Alex Noren of Sweden and tournament host Paul Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, were among the other winners from the 32 ties played on the opening day.