April 05, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1429

HOUSTON, April 4: Holder Adam Scott of Australia and American Johnson Wagner fired course records of nine-under-par 63 on Thursday to share the lead after the first round of the Houston Open.

Scott birdied six of his first nine holes after starting at the 10th and added three more birdies in a bogey-free round at Redstone Golf Club’s Tournament Course.

The 28-year-old Wagner looks to have found form again at Redstone, where he had shared the course record with Bubba Watson after shooting 64 last year.

He surged at the finish of his afternoon round with a tap-in eagle at the par-five eighth and a birdie at the ninth to reclaim a share of the course mark by matching Scott.

Wagner came into the tournament ranked 181st in scoring average this year after missing six cuts.

American Charley Hoffman, who has missed his last seven cuts, was alone in third place at 65, two strokes behind the co-leaders.

A shot further back was world number four Steve Stricker, who posted a 66, one better that 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, his fellow-Australian Steve Elkington and Americans Briny Baird and Dean Wilson.

John Daly failed to take advantage of good scoring conditions in the morning, posting a six-over 78 on a layout set up to mimic features of Augusta National, site of next week’s first grand slam of the year, the Masters.

World No 2 Phil Mickelson came to his last hole at two under par, but dumped his tee shot into the water and finished with a double-bogey for even-par 72.

Among other notables, twice Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain, Sweden’s Jesper Parnevik and Davis Love III were all in a large group at three-under 69.

Love must win the tournament to join next week’s Masters field and continue his streak of playing in 70 successive majors dating back to the 1990 British Open.

Leading first-round scores:

63 – Adam Scott (Australia), Johnson Wagner (US).

65 – Charley Hoffman (US).

66 – Steve Stricker (US).

67 – Briny Baird (US), Geoff Ogilvy (Australia), Dean Wilson (US), Steve Elkington (Australia).

68 – Brett Quigley (US), Justin Leonard (US), Omar Uresti (US), Bubba Watson (US).

69 – Jesper Parnevik (Sweden), Ben Curtis (US), J.J. Henry (US), Dudley Hart (US), Alejandro Canizares (Spain), Nicholas Thompson (US), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain), Davis Love III (US), Bart Bryant (US), Lucas Glover (US), Pat Perez (US), Martin Laird (Britain), Anders Hansen (Denmark).—Reuters