Round 1 Notes – Zurich Classic of New Orleans
Dean Wilson carded a first-round 66 in the Zurich Classic on Thursday and will now take a one-shot lead over Briny Baird, Peter Lonard and Chez Reavie into Friday’s second round.This marks the third time in Wilson’s PGA TOUR career that he has been a leader/co-leader through 18 holes of a TOUR event:
Year Event Scores Finish
2006 Arnold Palmer Invitational 66-70-73-72—281 T10
2006 Northern Trust Open 64-73-69-70—276 T7
In fact, this is the first time Wilson has slept on a lead after any round since the 2006 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Wilson’s round of 66 is somewhat out of the blue as the 2006 INTERNATIONAL champion has made only three cuts in eight starts this year on the PGA TOUR. His best finish came at the Buick Invitational where he wound up T29.
The last time a first-round leader went on to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans was in 1992, when Chip Beck shot a 5-under 67 and was tied with Seve Ballesteros, Brad Bryant and Jay Haas after 18 holes. Beck went on to defeat Greg Norman by a stroke.
At last week’s World Golf Championships – CA Championship, Geoff Ogilvy became only the second 18-hole leader on the 2008 PGA TOUR to go on and win that event, joining K.J. Choi (Sony Open).
Briny Baird (68) is likely carrying over the momentum from his T4 finish last week at the inaugural Puerto Rico Open. That marked his first top-5 finish on the PGA TOUR since the 2006 Stanford St. Jude Classic.
The key to Vaughn Taylor’s first-round 68 may have been the fact that he hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation (he led the field in this category on Thursday). Taylor entered the week ranked 129th in that statistic for the 2008 season, where he has only one top-20 finish in eight starts (T8 – Bob Hope Chrysler Classic).
Second-year PGA TOUR player John Mallinger opened with a round of 69 on Thursday. Mallinger finished T3 at the Zurich Classic last year, one of four third-place finishes in his brief TOUR career (2007 – AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Zurich Classic, Turning Stone Resort Championship; 2008 – AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am).
Steve Elkington, who was Pete Dye’s player consultant on the TPC Louisiana design, opened with a round of 68 in an event that likely owes him one. Elkington fell ill with food poisoning before the 2005 Zurich Classic and was forced to withdraw in the tournament’s debut at the TPC course.
Elkington’s best finish in 12 prior starts at the Zurich Classic was a T12 in 1986, the first year in which he played the event.
Players who were bogey free during the opening round:
67 Chez Reavie
67 Peter Lonard
68 Jay Williamson
68 Cameron Beckman
70 Steve Stricker
Defending champion Nick Watney opened today with a round of 71. Only four players in tournament history have been able to successfully defend their title: Carlos Franco (1999-2000), Tom Watson (1980-1981), Bo Wininger (1962-1963), and Byron Nelson (1945-1946).
The Nationwide Tour’s Chitimacha Louisiana Open is taking place this week up the road in Lafayette, LA. The only past champion of that event in the field at the Zurich Classic this week is Johnson Wagner, who used a victory there in 2006 to earn his PGA TOUR card for 2007. Wagner opened with a round of 1-under 71 on Thursday.
Past champions in the field this week:
Score Standing
Nick Watney 71 T33
Tim Petrovic 74 T92
Steve Flesch 69 T17
Carlos Franco 71 T33
Scott McCarron 74 T92
Davis Love III 76 T126
Scoring Averages:
Front 9 Back 9 Total
Thursday 36.278 36.250 72.528
The par-4 sixth played as the most difficult hole on Thursday with a scoring average of 4.521. The sixth played as the most difficult hole in 2005 as well with a 72-hole average of 4.261.
Briny Baird recorded an eagle at the par-4 sixth, where he holed his second shot from 208 yards. This marked the first eagle on the sixth since the tournament moved to TPC Louisiana in 2005. Chez Reavie recorded an eagle at the par-4 12th after holing his second shot from 215 yards. These were the only eagles recorded on non-par-5 holes in the first round.
For a reference, the most difficult hole on the 2008 PGA TOUR to date is the par-4 seventh at Torrey Pines (South), which played to an average of 4.491 at the Buick Invitational.
J.L. Lewis withdrew prior to the start of the first round on Thursday and was replaced by Justin Bolli.
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