FBR Open: First-Round Notes  PGA TOUR Media Official SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- One player, Tripp Isenhour, did not complete play due to darkness. Isenhour is on the 18th green in two (66 feet 10 inches from the hole) and chose not to putt out. His playing partners, Robert Garrigus and John Merrick both completed their rounds. Isenhour will return to the green and putt at 8:00 a.m. Friday.  Dudley Hart put together eight birdies on a chilly day. (Steve Grayson/WireImage)
• Dudley Hart fired a 7-under-par 64 on Thursday to take the first-round lead by one over David Toms, Tom Pernice, Jr., Paul Azinger, John Rollins, Aaron Baddeley and Brian Gay. This is the sixth time in Hart's career that he has held/shared the first-day lead. The last time Hart sat atop the leaderboard after the opening round was the 2005 FBR Open. Two years ago, Hart shot a 4-under 67 to lead by one. The scoring average that day was 74.145. Hart's best finish in this tournament is a T8 back in 1998. • Over his career, this is the fourth time he has held the lead outright after 18 holes; he shared the 18-hole lead twice. This is also the fourth time that his lead has come on par-71 courses. • Hart has gone on to win the tournament only once in the previous five times he's held/shared the lead after the first round. That win came at the 2000 Honda Classic, where he was part of a PGA TOUR-record 8-way tie for the 18-hole lead. • Hart's round of 64 matches the lowest opening-round score of his career. He also shot 64s at the 1991 Deposit Guaranty Classic and the 1997 GTE Bryon Nelson Classic; both of those were on par-70 courses. In 10 previous starts in this event, Hart's best first-round score was 67, which he posted in both 2005 and 2000. • On Thursday, Hart hit 7 of 14 fairways, 15 of 18 greens in regulation and had 26 putts. Hart's longest made putts were a 26-foot, 2-inch birdie at No. 16 and a 15-foot, 11-inch birdie at No. 2. The total distance of his made putts was 111 feet, 8 inches. • This is the sixth start for Brian Gay at the FBR Open and his 65 is the best round he has posted at the TPC Scottsdale. The previous best of 67 came the first time he teed it up here, the opening round in 2001. • Native Phoenician Billy Mayfair is making his 21st consecutive start in this event. His 5-under-par 66 was his lowest first-round score in this tournament, bettering a 67 he shot in 2000. His 66 matched the second-best score he's ever posted here. Mayfair's career-low in this tournament is a final-round 65 in 2001. His best finish in this event was a 2nd in 1995. • Paul Azinger is making his 23rd start in Phoenix and his 6-under-par 65 was the best opening score he's ever posted in this event. His previous best was a 67 in 1986 (T35) and again in 1987 when he won the tournament for the first win of his career. Azinger's career-best score here was a second-round 63 in 1997. The 65 matches his second-best effort at the TPC Scottsdale (1987/3rd round. 1992/3rd round). • The threesome of Kevin Sutherland, Ryan Moore and Ryuji Imada played the 319-yard, par-4 17th hole in a total of seven strokes. Sutherland chipped in from 83 feet 6 inches for eagle; Moore chipped in from 36 feet, 3 inches for eagle and Imada rolled in a birdie putt of 5 feet, 3 inches. • Tom Pernice, Jr., matched his career-best score at the FBR Open Thursday with a 6-under 65. Pernice is playing in this event for the 12th time. His 65 matched the fourth-round 65 he posted in 2003 and the third-round 65 he shot last year. • Scottsdale resident Aaron Baddeley started on the back nine and shot a 5-under-par 31 en route to a 6-under-par 65. Baddeley had a total of 9 putts on the back nine, one-putting every hole. Baddeley finished off his day with an 8-foot birdie on the final hole for his 65. He ended the day with a total of 20 putts. Baddeley has played in this event the past four years and missed the cut on three occasions. His only made-cut was a T49 in 2005. His previous best score at TPC Scottsdale was a 68 in the second round in 2003. • Several players ran off a string of 4 consecutive birdies Thursday: Robert Gamez (Nos. 15-16-17-18 in a 68); David Branshaw (Nos. 11-12-13-14 in a 70); and Billy Mayfair (Nos. 3-4-5-6 in a 66). • Jeff Maggert withdrew after 11 holes after aggravating a rib injury he initially suffered in December in Colorado on a family vacation. • Defending champion J. B. Holmes birdied the first hole Thursday but struggled after that and didn't make another birdie until the 17th and 18th holes. He finished with a 3-over 74. • Heath Slocum (67) had six birdies and they came in pairs of two. Slocum made his birdies at Nos. 8 & 9, 14 & 15, 17 & 18. • The players who were bogey-free on Thursday were Tom Pernice, Jr. (65), Jeff Quinney (66), Robert Garrigus (66), Vaughn Taylor (67) and Alejandro Canizares (68). • The reachable, par-4 17th hole played the easiest among the 18 at TPC Scottsdale with a scoring average of 3.573. A total of 102 players went for the green with their tee shots and 16 reached the putting surface. George McNeil was the closest all day, hitting his shot to within 9 feet, 5 inches. • There were four eagles, from Charlie Wi, Kevin Sutherland, Ryan Moore and George McNeil, along with 63 birdies, 50 pars, 13 bogeys and one double bogey from Chris DiMarco, whose second shot went into the water. • Fred Couples shot a 1-over-par 72. His first round of the year included something unusual, in that he made only three 4s all day. Couples had six birdies and seven bogeys. • George McNeil (67) finished strong, playing his final five holes in 5 under par. McNeil closed out his day with a birdie-birdie-par-eagle-birdie streak. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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