American Nick Watney benefited from a late stumble by compatriot Brandt Snedeker to snatch a one-shot lead in the Mercedes-Benz Championship first round.
Making his debut in the winners-only event, Watney upstaged some
of the biggest names in the game by firing a five-under-par 68 on
the hilly Plantation Course at the Kapalua Resort.
The 26-year-old Californian piled up six birdies, his last
with a 30-foot putt on the 17th to take the outright lead, against
a lone bogey in blustery, wet conditions to take charge of the PGA
Tour's opening event of 2008.
"I putted very well and I kept it really simple," Watney told
reporters after ending the day a stroke in front of Swede Daniel
Chopra. "I just hit to a lot of the middle of the greens and tried
to take what they gave me.
"It was a very steady day and I'm very pleased but, at the
same time, it's the first day of the first tournament of the year,
so we've got a long ways to go."
Australian Aaron Baddeley birdied four of the last five holes
for a 70, matching US Open champion Angel Cabrera and American
Jonathan Byrd in the tournament which brings together the title
holders from the previous PGA Tour season.
Snedeker, battling to shrug off a lingering bout of flu,
dropped three shots in the last two holes for a 71 to finish level
with 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir.
Canadian Stephen Ames, who struck the opening drive of the
season, American left-hander Steve Flesch and South African Rory
Sabbatini were a further stroke back after carding 72s.
Snedeker, the 2007 PGA Tour rookie of the year, had led by a
stroke before running up a double-bogey six at the 17th after
missing the fairway to the left off the tee with a cracked driver.
Forced to use his three-wood twice on the 663-yard par-five
last, he signed off with a bogey after three-putting.
Among the big names, world number three Jim Furyk and
defending champion Vijay Singh opened with 74s.
Masters champion Zach Johnson battled to a 76 while fellow
American Paul Goydos propped up the leaderboard with a poor 81.
Collated first round scores in the USPGA Tour Mercedes-Benz
Championship, Kapalua Plantation GC, Hawaii, United States of
America
(USA unless stated, par 73):
68 Nick Watney
69 Daniel Chopra (Swe)
70 Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Angel Cabrera (Arg), Jonathan Byrd
71 Mike Weir (Can), Brandt Snedeker
72 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Steve Flesch, Stephen Ames (Can)
73 Hunter Mahan, Steve Stricker, Justin Leonard, Woody Austin, Scott Verplank
74 Vijay Singh (Fij), George McNeill, Jim Furyk, Charles Howell
III, Mark
Wilson
75 Charley Hoffman, Chad Campbell, Mark Calcavecchia, Joe Ogilvie, Fred Funk
76 Zach Johnson, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Brian Bateman
79 KJ Choi (Kor)
80 Boo Weekley
81 Paul Goydos
