MIAMI — Kyle Stanley, looking for his first PGA Tour title since 2017, fired an eight-under par 64 on Thursday to take a two-shot first-round lead in the Puerto Rico Open. Stanley posted a career-high nine birdies, hitting all 18 greens in regulation and dropping his only shot of the day at the eighth. He birdied the first three holes — and four of the first five — on the par-72 Coco Beach Golf and Country Cub course. He added another four birdies in a row from the ninth through the 12th and picked up one last birdie at 15. "Just kind of caught a hot putter," Stanley said. "Ball-striking was pretty good and felt like I drove it well, too. Just a pretty solid round of golf." Pretty windy out there, so I"m really happy with the round." It was a welcome turnaround for Stanley, winner of the 2012 Phoenix Open and 2017 Quicken Loans National who has made just four cuts in 11 starts so far in the 2019-2020 season. "To be honest, I really haven"t been playing that well the past month or so," Stanley said. "I really struggled with my ball-striking last week in LA, but felt like I putted pretty well. Just tried to clean up a few things in my swing and continue with some good putting prep leading into today." A victory in Puerto Rico — a tournament played opposite the elite World Golf Championships Mexico Championship — would see him secure his US PGA Tour card for another two seasons. Half a dozen players shared second on 66: Argentina"s Emiliano Grillo, Sweden"s Henrik Norlander, Australian Rhein Gibson and Americans Josh Teater and Peter Uihlein. — AFP