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Rose, Varner share the lead at the Colonial

The PGA returns to action with no spectators.
Credit: AP
Harold Varner III tees off on the 14th hole during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, June 11, 2020. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

FORT WORTH, Texas — Golf is the second major sport in the United States, behind motor sports, to resume a schedule shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.     

The start was even more quiet than usual on the PGA Tour, only the silence never left over the next 12 hours as golf was back to business at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial.

Justin Rose and Harold Varner shared the lead at 7-under 63, with Justin Thomas among those a stroke back. Tom Lehman, a 61-year-old former champion at Colonial, got in on the act with a 65.     

Sung Kang made a hole-in-one on the 13th hole and didn't realize it until he was 50 yards from the green.     

Ryan Palmer, a Colonial member who raised money for COVID-19 relief efforts during the shutdown, was chosen to hit the first official shot on the PGA Tour in three months.

Colonial came to a standstill at 8:46 a.m. when everyone on the course honored a moment of silence for the death of George Floyd and the outrage it has sparked worldwide on racial injustice.

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