Print this page  |  Close Window

By Dave Senko
Champions Tour Media Official

KAHUKU, Hawaii -- First-round leader Fred Funk opened with a bogey-free 7-under-par 65 on Friday to open the Turtle Bay Championship and holds a two-stroke margin over a group of five players, including Tom Kite, who was T2 last week. Funk was T1 in Driving Accuracy (12 of 14/85.7%) and was T2 in Greens in Regulation (15 of 18/83.3%).

• Funk was not the only player to post a bogey-free round on Friday. He was joined by Tom Kite, Tom McKnight, Kiyoshi Murota and Walter Hall.

Hale Irwin dug himself a deep hole on Friday. (Chris Condon/PGATOUR/WireImage)

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

HALE IRWIN THRU 18 HOLES

Category Total Rank Eagles 1 T1 Birdies 3 T26 Pars 10 T64 Bogeys 3 T24 Double Bogeys 0 N/A Other 1 T1 Driving Accuracy 85.7% T1 Driving Distance 251.5 yds. T56 Greens in Regulation 77.8% T6 Putts per Round 32 T60 Putts per GIR 1.786 T31 Sand Saves 0 N/A

• Hale Irwin's Player Page

• Hale Irwin, a six-time winner of this event and the winner of last week's MasterCard Championship at Hualalai, opened with a 2-over-par 74 on Friday and is T49. Irwin shot a 5-over-par 41 on the front nine that included a quadruple bogey on No. 7. However, he bounced back on the back nine with a 3-under-par total of 33, which included an eagle on No. 18.

• Defending champion Loren Roberts posted his 18th consecutive sub-par round, dating back to a final-round 76 at the JELD-WEN Tradition last August.

• One week after the field averaged 68.829 in the opening round at the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai, the scoring average jumped nearly four strokes to 72.615 on Friday. There were 13 rounds in the 60s and 25 sub-par rounds at the Turtle Bay Resort.

• The most difficult hole on Friday was No. 4 with an average score of 3.526 (+.526), while the second toughest was No. 15 at 3.321 (+.321). There were just five birdies on No. 4 and only three on No. 15. The easiest was No. 14 with an average score of 3.782 (-.218). There were 22 birdies on the hole.

• The long drive of the day was recorded by David Edwards on No. 16, a 339-yarder.

• Chip Beck continued to demonstrate the strong play he showed at the close of the 2006 season. Beck made $505,467 in just five starts in 2006 with four top-5 finishes. He shot a 3-under-par 69 on Friday.

• Mark McNulty withdrew prior to the start of Friday's round with a back ailment, allowing rookie and open qualifier Tim Conley to make his Champions Tour debut. Conley fired a 3-over-par 75.

• Bruce Summerhays made his 151st consecutive start for which he has been eligible on Friday, shooting a 1-over-par 73. The last event he missed for which he was eligible was the 2001 AT&T Canada Senior Open Championship.

• Denny Hepler, the winner of "The Big Break VI," shot a 5-over-par 77. He was competing on a sponsor's exemption.

Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved.