First-round notebook – Transitions Championship
* Stephen Ames, the 2006 PLAYERS Championship winner, posted 5-under 66 thanks to six birdies and a lone bogey at the par-4 16th hole. This represents his lowest first-round since a 65 at the 2006 Bank of America Colonial. This is Ames’ first round in the 60s since a final round 63 at The 50th Bob Hope Classic, where he finished T5, in January. The Canadian, via Trinidad, who is currently No. 15 on the Presidents Cup International Team standings, hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation.* Jim Furyk shot 6-under 65, his low round of the year, to take the lead after the first round of the Transitions Championship.
* Furyk’s last first-round lead/co-lead was a five-way tie at the 2007 AT&T National after a 66. His last outright first-round lead was the 2005 Barclays Classic where he shot 65. Furyk has held the first-round lead/co-lead 18 times and gone on to win four of those 18.
* Furyk has 13 career PGA Tour victories, the most recent at the 2007 RBC Canadian Open.
* Furyk’s 65 is his sixth consecutive round in the 60s dating back to the final round of the Northern Trust Open where he shot 68. Furyk posted four rounds in the 60s at last week’s WGC-CA Championship, finishing third.
* Furyk is in the Tampa Bay area for the second time in less than two months and looking for success again. The Pittsburgh Steelers fan attended the Super Bowl Championship at Raymond James Stadium in February. The Steelers beat the Arizona Cardinals 27-23.
* Furyk is on track to make his 17th consecutive cut which would place him third in that category behind Tiger Woods and Robert Allenby who both have 31.
* Mathew Goggin was bogey-free in his first-round, 4-under 67. Goggin, from Australia, has posted sub-par first-round scores in each of his six starts (excluding Accenture Match Play Championship) this year. Other bogey-free rounds were posted by Mark Wilson (68), David Toms (68) and Retief Goosen (69).
* Japanese teen sensation Ryo Ishikawa (69) scored his first round in the 60s on the PGA Tour after starting the day with consecutive birdies at holes 1 and 2. His only bogey came at the 215-yard, par-3, 17th hole. Ishikawa shot 73 in the first-round of the Northern Trust Open, his PGA Tour debut, and was T113 at the end of the day. He is T15 after round one.
The “Bashful Prince” is the only teenager in the field this week and may be feeling more confident in his second appearance on the PGA Tour.
“At Northern Trust I was very nervous,” said the 17-year-old. “At Transitions Championship, about half as nervous, so about same as when I play Japan Golf Tour events.”
* Kenny Perry (67), No. 8 on the Official World Golf Ranking, posted the low round of the afternoon. It was his 1,900th round on the PGA Tour.
* Woody Austin (69) was at 4-under-par through 15 holes but consecutive bogeys at holes 16 and 17, and a final-hole par, dropped the Tampa native to 2-under. Austin, a three-time Tour winner, has played the Transitions Championship every year, except 2008, with a best-finish of T30 in 2004. The upside for Austin is that he has made the cut in each appearance and is on track to do the same this year.
* Two-time Transitions Championship winner, K.J. Choi (2002/06), shot 70, including a double-bogey at the par-3 13th hole where he blocked his tee shot into the hazard. Choi is T33.
* Scott McCarron was 2-over after four holes but played the last five holes in eagle-bogey-birdie-birdie-birdie to shoot 31 (4-under) on the back nine to shoot 69. The 43-year-old finished T10 at the recent Northern Trust Open. Steve Lowery (70) also had a tough start – par, bogey, double-bogey – but managed to turn it around with a 31 on the back nine, including an eagle at the par-5, 11th hole.
* Defending champion, Sean O’Hair (72), scored three strokes higher than his first-round 69 last year. It is O’Hair’s second-best opening round score in five starts at the Transitions Championship (73/2005, 75/2006, 76/2007). O’Hair is T75 compared to T21 after the first-round last year.
* Jonathan Byrd (67) made birdies at the three back nine par-3 holes – 13, 15 and 17. Byrd made par at the 4th and bogeyed the 8th – the two front nine par-3 holes.
* Seven players finished in the top-10 at last week’s Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular and made it into the field at the Transitions Championship. Michael Bradley, last week’s winner who still resides in his native Tampa, withdrew early in the week with a hip injury. Here’s how the other six players performed in Thursday’s opening round;
Jason Day 72
Greg Chalmers 72
J.P. Hayes 71
Joe Durant 73
Kent Jones 74
D.A. Points 73
* Speaking of Bradley’s withdrawal – he was replaced in the field by David Berganio Jr., who in turn was replaced by Colt Knost – neither player was on site – which allowed Derek Fathauer (76), a Stuart, FL native, to make his eighth start of the year. Also, Michael Campbell, the New Zealander who won the 2005 U.S. Open, was forced to withdraw Wednesday with a recurring shoulder injury he suffered late last year. Campbell was replaced by Jimmy Walker (72).
* Kenny Perry and Trevor Immelman are “Healthy Sight Ambassadors” for Transitions Optical. The two stars treated 1,100 Tampa Bay area district school kids to a clinic on Wednesday. The children also received free vision screening, a single-use camera, lunch and the chance to watch some great golf when they return to use their free one-day ticket.
* Fred Funk (78) withdrew upon completion of the opening round.
* The scoring average was 71.625 with hole No. 2 playing the most difficult and the 11th hole playing the easiest.
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