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WOODSTOCK (Georgia), Oct 3: Spaniard Sergio Garcia shot a bogey-free 65 on Thursday to take a one-shot lead over Tim Herron and Rocco Mediate after the first round of the $6 million WGC-American Express Championship.
South Korea’s K.J. Choi and world number one Tiger Woods are two shots back at three-under-par 67 over the Capital City Club’s Crabapple Course.
Spain’s Ignacio Garrido and Sweden’s Niclas Fasth finished on 68, tied for sixth and three shots behind Garcia.
U.S. Masters winner Mike Weir of Canada heads a group on 69, including Loren Roberts, India’s Jyoti Randhawa, Peter O’Malley of Australia and Darren Clarke of Britain.
Garcia has struggled this year on the PGA Tour, with only two top-10 finishes, a tie for fourth at the Buick Classic and a tie for 10th in the British Open.
Ranked only 103rd on the money list, Garcia’s five-under-par score was a surprise in a field that includes the top-50 in the world.
Garcia’s round was all the more impressive because he was never really in trouble over the 18 holes.
When asked about his saves, he could only come up with one, at the 14th, when he hit his drive in the rough, knocked his approach over the green and had to get up and down for par.
On a day when only 12 players managed to shoot under-par scores, Garcia’s round is quite a feat considering he began the year with new equipment and has been working on a new swing.
Both Herron and Mediate have come close to winning in 2003.
Mediate has runner-up finishes at the Mercedes Championship and the Deutsche Bank Championship and Herron was a runner-up at the Reno-Tahoe Open and tied for third in two other tournaments.
Like Garcia, Herron has fallen on hard times with his game, but picked up the pieces recently and has had his best year on tour since 1999 when he won the biggest and last event of his career, the Bay Hill Invitational.
Except for a back ailment, Mediate has not had the problems of Garcia or Herron.
He has won five times on tour, the last time in 2002 at the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic.
This season, Mediate has played very well in spurts, but at the same time the call of home and family has changed the way he has approached the game.
First-round scores
65 - Sergio Garcia (SPA)
66 - Tim Herron, Rocco Mediate
67 - KJ Choi (KOR), Tiger Woods
68 - Niclas Fasth (SWE), Ignacio Garrido (SPA)
69 - Darren Clarke (Nir), Peter O’Malley (AUS), Jyoti Randhawa (IND), Loren Roberts, Mike Weir (CAN)
70 - Alexander Cejka (GER), Jim Furyk, Trevor Immelman (RSA), Toshimitsu Izawa (JPN), Jerry Kelly, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Len Mattiace, Kenny Perry, Phillip Price (GBR), Adam Scott (AUS), Vijay Singh (FIJ)
THREE SHARE LEAD
MADISON (Mississippi): John Huston, Japan’s Hidemichi Tanaka and Paraguay’s Carlos Franco each shot six-under-par 66s for a share of the first-round lead at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic on Thursday.
The trio leads Patrick Sheehan and David Edwards by a stroke, while South African David Frost, Japan’s Shigeki Maruyama, Kent Jones, Jim McGovern, Brett Quigley and Paul Stankowski are at four-under 68.
Defending champion Luke Donald from Britain shot a three-under 69 and is in a group of nine players tied for 12th.
While Franco had a seamless bogey-free round with six birdies, Huston and Tanaka each had similar scorecards with an eagle, seven birdies and three bogeys.
With many of world’s top golfers competing in the WGC-American Express Championship, most of the players in this week’s event are looking to secure their place in the top-125 on the PGA Tour money list.
While the leaders do not have to worry about losing their playing privileges for 2004, each is looking to end a winless streak on the PGA Tour.
Neither Franco nor Huston have won since 2000, while Tanaka, who has 15 international wins, is without a victory in 80 PGA Tour starts.
Huston is making his second straight start after a five-week layoff and ranks 68th on the money list with $928,417 in earnings.
First-round scores:
66 Carlos Franco, John Huston, Hidemichi Tanaka
67 David Edwards, Patrick Sheehan
68 David Frost, Kent Jones, Shigeki Maruyama, Jim McGovern, Brett Quigley, Paul Stankowski
69 Chris M Anderson, Bart Bryant, Tim Clark, Luke Donald, John Maginnes, Spike McRoy, Corey Pavin, Carl Pettersson, Joey Sindelar 70 Briny Baird, Greg Chalmers, Ben Crane, Tom Gillis, Paul Gow, Ian Leggatt, John Morse, John Riegger.—Agencies
