Molinari leads after Wells Fargo first round

Francesco Molinari leads the Wells Fargo Championship by one shot following his first round 66 on Thursday.

The 34-year-old Italian quickly recovered from an early bogey to fire eight birdies in his six-under-par round at Eagle Point Golf Club to ensure he leads Grayson Murray, Brian Campbell, JB Holmes and Sweden’s Alex Noren who are embroiled in a four-way tie for second.

Ireland’s Seamus Power sits a further shot back on four under, while world number one Dustin Johnson was satisfied with his comeback round after a month-long absence because of the back injury he suffered which forced him to miss the opening major of the year, the Masters at Augusta National.

The 32-year-old American had a mixed round as he fired four birdies with two bogeys on his way to a 70 to leave him four shots off the pace.

“Since I haven’t played in so long, I’m happy with the way I played,” Johnson said. “I didn’t score that great and didn’t really hole many putts, but other than that I played really well.

“I hit 16 greens and hit the ball great. The two greens I missed I didn’t have hard chips; I just didn’t get up and down.

“I felt like I hit good putts but just nothing was going in at all, but all in all I’m very pleased with the day I had.”