PACKED TIGHT
6 on top at 66; 20 within 2 shots of lead
Perhaps it had something to do with the relatively calm — and extremely uncharacteristic — north winds filtering through TPC Southwind on Thursday. Or, maybe, it was the unseasonably pleasant conditions, which left the area without its sometimes suffocating early June humidity.
However one explains the opening round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic, it was anything but normal. It was nearly historic.
Six golfers — including Davis Love III and Stuart Appleby — shot 4-under 66s, the most to share the first-round Memphis lead since 1963 when eventual champion Tony Lema led a pack of eight that included Jack Nicklaus. It also was the most bunched leader board after 18 holes in the FESJC’s 25 years at TPC Southwind, or one more golfer than in 1994 when eventual champion Dicky Pride was among a fivesome at 5-under 66.
Joining Love and Appleby in the lead were Australian Nathan Green, former University of Oklahoma star Martin Flories, former University of Georgia golfer Harris English and tour veteran Glen Day, who also played at Oklahoma. Eleven others — two-time FESJC champ David Toms, defending champ Dustin Johnson, Nicholas Thompson, Scott Stallings, Jason Bohn, John Rollins, Peter Hanson, Justin Hicks, Paul Haley, Shawn Stefani and Tim Petrovic — are one shot back at 67. Twenty
players are within two shots of the leaders.
The two highest-ranked players in the field, sixthranked Brandt Snedeker and 10th-ranked Phil Mickelson, shot 70 and 71, respectively.
Given that Lema and Pride followed through to win after strong starts 50 and 19 years ago, could the 49-year-old Love continue the trend? Recently, he has been handling TPC Southwind, regardless of the conditions, as if he intends to add a 21st career PGA Tour title.
Love’s 66 on Thursday was his sixth straight round in the 60s at the FESJC. Last year, he had a share of the lead after 54 holes before being passed by Johnson and finishing third.
“I enjoy this golf course; I’ve always enjoyed it,” Love said. “With the Bermuda greens, it’s a lot like we putt on at home. We’re used to fast, firm Bermuda greens. Some guys don’t like putting on them.
“But this is why I like Hilton Head, or some of the others courses we play. You have to think your way around the golf course. It’s a challenge and it makes me focus really well.”
Love joined the leaders on his final hole as he stuck his approach to five feet on No. 18 and sank the birdie putt.
“It was a good day for me and a good day for our whole group,” said Love, who was paired with Johnson and Snedeker. “We had some rough patches, but all in all we made a bunch of birdies. It was a good day.”
While Love made his move late, Green grabbed the early lead, a rarity for the Australian, who has one career PGA Tour victory.
“It was definitely nice to get out there and not throw a round away,” Green said. “I was starting to get nervous seeing my name on the board. But I made two good up-and-downs to finish off the round, which was nice.”
Green, 38, celebrated the 200th start of his career by setting the day’s standard. Green had a bogey-free round with bird- ies at 2, 10, 13 and 16 and scrambled to avoid bogeys at 17 and 18 after finding greenside bunkers.
Flores, 31, who has yet to win since turning pro in 2004, took sole possession of the lead at 5-under with a birdie on No. 13 but followed with a double bogey at 14 to give it back.
He birdied 16 to get to 4 under and was pleased with his ability to stay among the leaders.
“I didn’t drive it as well as I would have liked to,” Flores said. “But I putted extremely well and I gave myself a lot of opportunities (despite) whatever situation I put myself in.”
Flores’ strong start followed a tie for 14th at the Crowne Plaza Invitational two weeks ago.
“I’ve been working really hard and I haven’t seen a lot of the results,” Flores said. “I had good things happen at the Byron Nelson (three weeks ago) and then went to the (Crowne Plaza) and put myself into (contention) there. There were a lot of positives from that (from) a lot of good things I’ve been working on.”
Johnson began his round as if he intended to pull away from the field. He was 5-under through six holes.
“I hit a lot of great shots early and holed a couple of putts,” Johnson said. “I played pretty solid all day long.
“But this golf course, it’s going to take four good rounds. We’ve still got three more days left. Today we were just getting started.”