Pettersson rebounds with solid first round
Early tie for lead after weather interruption
Carl Pettersson rebounded from missed cuts in his last two PGA Tour starts by charging into an early tie for the lead in Thursday’s weather-hit opening round of the Houston Open in Humble, Tex.
The 34-year-old Swede, putting superbly on the slick greens at Redstone Golf Club, birdied five of his first eight holes on the way to a 7-under-par 65 in the final tune-up event before next week’s Masters.
Pettersson, a four-time champion on the U.S. circuit, briefly got to 8 under but bogeyed the par-4 17th before finishing level with longhitting Angel Cabrera of Argentina.
Americans Ricky Barnes and Jeff Maggert were a further stroke back after opening with 66s before play was suspended because of the threat of lightning in the area.
More than an inch of rain saturated the course during the afternoon and organizers later abandoned play for the day with only 51 players having completed the opening round.
Among those who will resume, or start, Round 1 on Friday morning are defending champion Phil Mickelson, three-times major winner Ernie Els and Masters champion Charl Schwartzel.
British world No. 3 Lee Westwood and fifth-ranked American Steve Stricker carded 68s. Mickelson, who won last year’s Houston Open, was one under after three holes when play was suspended.
Graham Delaet of Weyburn, Sask., is at 5-under with one hole left to play. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., hasn’t started yet. Lindsey Wright gets early lead at Mission Hills: Six months after considering quitting the game because of depression, Australian Lindsey Wright stormed into an early two-shot lead at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in Rancho Mirage, Calif., on Thursday.
The 32-year-old took advantage of ideal scoring conditions at Mission Hills Country Club, firing a fiveunder-par 67 in the opening round of the year’s first women’s major.
In pursuit of a maiden victory on the LPGA Tour, Wright finished two strokes in front of South Korea’s Kang Haeji, who mixed five birdies with two bogeys. Taiwan’s Candie Kung and American rookie Cydney Clanton were a further shot back.
Lorie Kane of Charlottetown had a triple-bogey on the 15th hole and finished with a 2-over 74.