PACIFIC PALISADES (Calif), Feb 21: Fred Funk needed only 23 putts en route to a six-under-par 65 that gave him the first-round lead at the $4.5 million Nissan Open on Thursday, seven shots ahead of Tiger Woods.
Funk had a three-stroke lead over Australian Steve Elkington, who won the 1995 PGA Championship at this venue, Nick Price of South Africa, Cameron Beckman and Jeff Sluman.
Woods, who has never won this event, struggled with his putter, totalling 34 putts. He hit just seven fairways but kept in touch by hitting 15 greens in regulation.
First-round play was suspended at 1745 local with 15 players left on the course.
Funk, 46, hit just nine of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens in regulation.
Funk began on the back nine at Riviera Country Club and holed three birdie putts of 20 feet or longer and two-putted from 120 feet on the 487-yard, par-four 15th to save par.
Heading into this week, Funk ranked 85th on the PGA Tour in putts per round, averaging 29.24 per round. A year ago, Funk ranked 111th at 29.07.
Leading first round scores (U.S. unless stated):
65 Fred Funk
68 Cameron Beckman, Steve Elkington (Australia), Nick Price (Zimbabwe), Jeff Sluman
69 Charles Howell III, Bob Estes, Len Mattiace, Glen Hnatiuk (Canada), Aaron Baddeley (Australia), David Duval
70 Duffy Waldorf, Lee Janzen, Stephen Ames (Trinidad), K.J. Choi (South Korea)
71 Kirk Triplett, Brian Gay, Ben Crane, Spike McRoy, Darren Clarke (Britain)
72 Jeff Maggert, Billy Mayfair, Pat Bates, Craig Barlow, Greg Chalmers (Australia), Phil Tataurangi (New Zealand), Loren Roberts, Robert Allenby (Australia), Bernhard Langer (Germany), Olin Browne, Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan), J.J. Henry, Marco Dawson, Mike Weir (Canada), Steve Stricker, Kevin Sutherland, Luke Donald (Britain), Corey Pavin, Tiger Woods
KUALA LUMPUR: Retief Goosen, seeking his first victory in nearly 12 months, carded a seven-under-par 64 on the second day of a storm-interrupted Malaysian Open on Friday.
The South African moved to 12 under par and a one-stroke clubhouse lead in the co-sanctioned European and Asian Tour event being played on the Mines course in Kuala Lumpur.
India’s Arjun Atwal, who shared the first day lead at nine under par, had moved to 13 under par through seven holes and was among 73 players, half the field, who were unable to complete their second round when a violent mid-afternoon thunderstorm forced play to be called off for the day.
Among those who completed, Goosen leads from Korean Ted Oh who is at 11 under after adding a 64 to his opening round of 67.
Ireland’s Padraig Harrington, contesting his first event in nine weeks, added a second straight five-under-par 66 and moved into a share of third place at 10 under with Thailand’s Thammanoon Srirot.
Goosen was disappointed not to have capitalised more on his blistering start when he birdied seven of his opening nine holes before dropping two strokes on his inward half of an even par 35.
Oh, 32, managed to complete his round just prior to the storm and rushed down the final hole to avoid the thunderstorm.
During his junior days, the American based Korean was ranked higher than Tiger Woods.
Harrington’s round included six birdies and for a second day running just one bogey. But he struggled mentally as he returns to competition following a brilliant end to his 2002 season when he won three of his closing seven strokeplay events.
Leading second round scores after a violent thunderstorm forced play to be suspended for the day:
130 Retief Goosen (South Africa) 66 64 (12 under par)
131 Ted Oh (South Korea) 64 67
132 Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 66 66, Thammanoon Srirot (Thailand) 63 69
133 Daniel Chopra (Sweden) 65 68
134 Brad Kennedy (Australia) 68 66, Prayad Marksaeng (Thailand) 68 66
135 Anthony Kang (South Korea) 67 68, Gary Rusnak (U.S.) 66 69
Leading uncompleted second round scores
13 under par after 7 holes Arjun Atwal (India) 62
9 under (0 holes) Fredrik Andersson (Sweden) 62
7 under (6 holes) Simon Dyson (Britain) 65; Wei-Tze Yeh (Taiwan) 65.—Reuters