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| October 15, 2005 | Saturday | Ramzan 10, 1426 |
Unknown Baird on a roll in Las Vegas
NEW YORK, Oct 14: American Briny Baird, battling to keep his PGA Tour card, fired a sizzling 10-under 62 to grab the first round lead at the Las Vegas championships on Thursday.
Currently 132 on the money list and needing to finish among the top-125 earners to keep his card, Baird played as if his career was on the line returning a flawless 62 that included eight birdies and an eagle on the par-five 16th at the TPC at Summerlin.
Summerlin, one of two courses being used for the opening two rounds of the $4 million event, plays at a par 72 while the TPC at the Canyons is a par 71.
Lurking just one shot back are compatriots Ryan Palmer and Charles Howell III, who also had error-free starts returning identical nine-under scorecards that featured seven birdies and an eagle.
Justin Leonard, Michael Allen, Kevin Stadler, Bart Bryant and Scott Gutschewski are all one shot further adrift at eight-under.
Rookie Stadler, 163rd on the order of merit, aced the par-three 14th on his way to an eight-under 64.
Playing the back nine first at Summerlin, Stadler got off to an stumbling start with bogeys on his opening two holes but rebounded in style with a hole-in-one at the 14th followed by birdie on 15 and an eagle at the 16th.
Stadler then roared into the turn with birdies at 18 and the first followed by another eagle on three and a birdie at his last to close out a spectacular round.
Allen, 121st on the money list, bogeyed the second at Summerlin before hitting back with nine birdies, including four in a row from the 13th, for his 64.
Leonard, the 1997 British Open champion, is 11th on the order of merit and under no pressure for a place on next year’s tour. He opened with an eight-under 63 on the TPC at Canyons.
World number three and U.S. PGA champion Phil Mickelson registered a four-under 67 at the Canyons.
John Daly, beaten by Tiger Woods in a playoff at last weekend’s WGC-American Express Championship, mixed six birdies with three bogeys for a three-under 68.
Leading first-round scores
62 - Briny Baird, Ryan Palmer
63 - Charles Howell, Justin Leonard
64 - Michael Allen, Bart Bryant, Scott Gutschewski, Kevin Stadler, Ryuji Imada, Tjaart Van Der Walt
65 - Hunter Haas, Billy Andrade, Jason Gore, Paul Goydos, Will MacKenzie, Shigeki Maruyama, Geoff Ogilvy, Tom Pernice
66 - John Senden, Hidemichi Tanaka
67 - Stuart Appleby, David Hearn, Brendan Jones, Stephen Leaney, Rod Pampling, Jesper Parnevik, Rory Sabbatini
68 - Gavin Coles, Scott Hend, Carl Pettersson, Robert Allenby, John Daly, Phillip Price
69 - Padraig Harrington, Mark Hensby
70 - Alex Cejka, Daniel Chopra, Thomas Levet, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood
71 - Paul Gow, Greg Owen, Craig Perks
72 - Aaron Baddeley
73 - Michael Long
76 - Steve Allan
MADRID: Seve Ballesteros endured a nightmare return to the European Tour after a two-year absence on Thursday when he carded a six-over-par 77 in the first round of the Madrid Open.
The 48-year-old Spaniard, who gave fans a taste of his old magic when he hit one shot on his knees, never recovered from a horror start which saw him six over after just seven holes.
At the other end of the scoreboard, Swedens Robert Karlsson and Mark Roe of England swept into a share of the first round lead with eight under par 63s.
Northern Irelands Darren Clarke, who has played a limited schedule this year due to his wifes illness, also compiled an error-free round, his seven under par 64 being good enough to share third place with Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin.
Roe has only once finished outside the top 115 on the Order of Merit in 20 seasons on Tour.
After a steady start, the 42-year-old collected eight birdies in 15 holes, including four in the last six.
Leading scores
63 Robert Karlsson (Sweden); Mark Roe (Britain)
64 Darren Clarke (Britain); Raphael Jacquelin (France)
66 Christian Cevaer (France); Alastair Forsyth (Britain); Jose-Filipe Lima (Portugal); Brett Rumford (Australia); Graeme Storm (Britain)
67 Francois Delamontagne (France); Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) Gary Emerson (Britain); Martin Erlandsson (Sweden); Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain); Anders Hansen (Denmark); Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands); Jose Manuel Lara (Spain); Stuart Little (Britain); Henrik Nystroem (Sweden); Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 68 Peter Hedblom (Sweden); Garry Houston (Britain); Brad Kennedy (Australia) Simon Khan (Britain); Paul Lawrie (Britain); Stuart Manley (Britain); Damien McGrane (Ireland); David Park (Britain); Anthony Wall (Britain).—Agencies
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