DETROIT -- At 15, Miles Russell is talented enough to earn a sponsor exemption to play at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, but he isn't old enough to drive the courtesy car provided by the tournament, and technically he's not permitted to enter the men's locker room at Detroit Golf Club.
Playing on the PGA Tour for the first time, Russell shot an opening-round 74 on Thursday to sit 10 shots behind Akshay Bhatia.
Russell, who earned a sponsor exemption to play in Detroit after becoming the youngest player in Korn Ferry Tour history to make a cut in April, calmed his nerves well enough to hit his first drive 305 yards to the middle of the fairway, but his approach from 119 yards landed in a greenside bunker to set up a bogey.