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HARRISON, New York, June 20: Briny Baird fired the lowest round of his career, an eight-under-par 63, to surge three shots clear of the field after the first round of the $5 million Buick Classic on Thursday.
Jim Furyk, winner of last week’s U.S. Open, and Joey Sindelar shared second place on 66, with world number one Tiger Woods, South African Retief Goosen and Shigeki Maruyama of Japan a further stroke adrift at the Westchester Country Club.
South African duo Deane Pappas and Ernie Els, JL Lewis and Skip Kendall were tied on three-under 68.
Baird, whose best performance on the PGA Tour was a second-place finish at the John Deere Classic, began his round in style when he holed out from 77 yards for an eagle at the par-four 10th hole.
He bogeyed the 11th after taking three putts but hit back by picking up shots at the 13th, 17th and 18th.
On his back nine, Baird sank three birdie putts from within five feet at the first, seventh and ninth, and also rammed in a 20-foot birdie putt at the fourth.
First round scores
63 Briny Baird
66 Joey Sindelar, Jim Furyk
67 Shigeki Maruyama (Japan), Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen (South Africa).
68 Dean Pappas (South Africa), Ernie Els (South Africa), JL Lewis, Skip Kendall.
69 Jesper Parnevik (Sweden), Steve Elkington (Australia), JJ Henry, Glen Day, Brad Faxon, Shaun Micheel, Cliff Kresge, Matt Kuchar, Steve Flesch, Fred Couples
70 Tim Clark (South Africa), Rod Pampling (Australia), Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden), Sergio Garcia (Spain), Alex Cejka (Germany), Dudley Hart, Donnie Hammond, Jonathan Kaye, Andy Miller, Ben Curtis, Billy Andrade, Brandel Chamblee, Scott Verplank, John Rollins, Vijay Singh (Fiji).
Winds play havoc in Scotland
GLENEAGLES, (Scotland): Gale-force gusting winds played havoc with the Diageo Championship opening round on Thursday, leaving only six players of the 156-field under par.
Rounds of two-under-par 70 by Scottish duo Alastair Forsyth and Marc Warren and Australian Brad Kennedy were enough for a one-shot lead. It was the first time for 10 months, since last year’s North West of Ireland Open, that nobody was able to break 70 in the opening round of a European Tour event.
Defending champion Adam Scott of Australia blew his chance of a share of the lead when he four-putted the last.
The 22-year-old had to settle for a level-par 72, two strokes off the pace and in a tie for sixth place with one of the tournament favourites, Colin Montgomerie.—Reuters
