Troy Matteson leads by one stroke after the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. (AP)

NORTON — Ranked No. 97 in the FedEx Cup standings, Troy Matteson certainly made the most of being the third-to-last golfer in the field as he opened the Deutsche Bank Championship with a 6-under 65 to hold a one stroke lead after the first round. Only the top 100 players in the standings made the field.

“It was kind of interesting this morning warming up,” Matteson said following his round. “I would not have said if I could have kept it under 80, I would have been doing pretty good. It just was not that good of a warmup this morning. I bogeyed my first hole right out of the gate, and that didn’t really set the tone very well for the day. So, I looked at my caddie and said, ‘Look, we’ve just got to focus on making some birdies.’ ”

Matteson recorded seven birdies and only the one bogey for the day. This is his fifth appearance at the Deutsche Bank and was his best score in 15 rounds at the TPC Boston.

He said that he feels enjoys the city and surrounding areas of Boston and likes the comfortable September weather.

“You know, I’ve been coming up here for a while and I’ve got a friend out in Hyannisport, and he owns a restaurant out there,” Matteson said. “I get up here to fish a couple of tournaments a year. It’s just a nice place. This time of year the weather is perfect. The people are nice, I’ve got friends up here. It’s just a nice place for me to be.”

Four players are one stroke back of Matteson. Those players are led by world No. 1-ranked player Luke Donald. The other players include Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, Y.E. Yang and Jerry Kelly.

“It was a good round,” Donald said. “I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball well the last few days. I hit it decent today, not great. My short game, actually, was pretty sharp. I did miss a couple coming in, but made a good few out there and was very happy with the score.”

New England native and reigning PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley fired a 3-under 68 playing in front of many family and friends. He poured in four birdies and bogeyed only one hole, the par-5 18th. After the round Bradley said it was just a bad break.

“I actually hit a perfect drive right down the middle,” he said. “I mean, it was right down my line, perfect, and it just trickled into the bunker. I just had a bad shot after that, and it resulted in a bogey.”

Phil Mickelson finished with a 1-under 70. He used a belly putter for the first time in his professional career and recorded 29 total putts, but said afterward he thought it went well.

The tournament continues Saturday, and the final round is scheduled for Monday, with the winner earning $1.4 million.

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