Corey Pavin, Bo Van Pelt and Dudley Hart all got off to perfect starts at the Buick Open yesterday, firing bogey-free eight-under-par 64s to share the first-round lead.
Pavin started his day in unspectacular style with four pars before catching fire and reeling off six birdies over the next eight holes to rocket up the leaderboard at a steamy Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club.
Using a putter that had sat in his closet for more than 10 years, Pavin needed just 21 putts to record back-to-back rounds of 64 for the first time in 25 years on the PGA Tour.
The 48-year-old journeyman also had a 64 on Sunday in the final round of the Travelers.
"It's a putter I got in 1984," Pavin told reporters. "I used it for quite a while, probably up until about the middle of '95.
"Then it took a break until last year. So it was on the bench for over a decade. I thought I'd try it and it's been working pretty good."
Van Pelt, making his 196th PGA Tour start and still searching for his first title, mixed six birdies with an eagle on the par five seventh to earn his 64. Hart joined the group after missing a birdie putt at the last.
Lurking one shot back on 65 are Briny Baird, who also enjoyed an error-free day and Daniel Chopra, winner of the PGA Tour season opener at Mercedes-Benz championship.
Shigeki Maruyama, Kenneth Ferrie, Jon Mills and Woody Austin, who claimed his first career title at the Buick in 1995, are one stroke further adrift on six-under 66.
Jim Furyk, the 2003 champion and the highest-ranked player in the field at number 12, opened with a 68 to sit four off the pace.
