   
| PLAYERS Championship: First-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Thursday's first round of THE PLAYERS Championship marks Phil Mickelson's 18th career lead or co-lead after an opening round. He has gone on to convert five of the previous 17 into victories, including the last three (2007 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am; 2006 BellSouth Classic; 2005 PGA Championship). He also finished second in six of those 17 instances.  Kenny Perry flirted with disaster on the island green Thursday. (Hunter Martin/WireImage)
• This is the third time in 14 PLAYERS Championships that Phil Mickelson has opened with a round in the 60s. The last came in 2002, when he claimed the opening-round lead with a 64 before finishing T28 on the week. His best finish in that situation was a T8 in 1998 after opening with a 3-under 69.. • This marks Rory Sabbatini's fifth career opening-round lead or co-lead. He has yet to win after holding an opening-round lead, with his best finish being T2 at the 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii. • Rory Sabbatini hit only nine of 18 greens on Thursday, but needed just 22 putts and was eight of nine in scrambling. • Rory Sabbatini's round of 5-under 67 is a career best for him at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course. He has only one other round in the 60s, a 68 in the second round in 2004. • Rory Sabbatini is looking to record his fourth consecutive top-5 finish on the PGA TOUR. That would mark the longest top-5 streak of Sabbatini's career. In his last three starts, he finished T2 at the Masters Tournament, T3 at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and T3 at the Wachovia Championship. Sabbatini has missed six of seven cuts at the PLAYERS Championship in his career. In his only cut made, he finished T42 in 2004. • Chris DiMarco opened with a 4-under 68 on Thursday and sits one stroke back of leaders Rory Sabbatini and Phil Mickelson. In 2002, he opened with a 6-under 66 and was two strokes back of first-round leader Mickelson. His 68 was just his third round in the 60s at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course out of 23 competitive rounds. • Last year on the island-green No. 17, there were 49 tee shots and a total of 59 balls in the water for the week. In Thursday's first round, there were 46 tee balls and a total of 50 balls in the water. • Stephen Ames' first-round 5-over-par 77 was the highest first-round score for a defending champion since 2002 winner Davis Love III shot a 77 in the first round in 2003. The 1987 winner Sandy Lyle fired a 79 in 1988. Ames was the seventh international winner of THE PLAYERS and the third in the last five years. • Tiger Woods' highest 18-hole score at THE PLAYERS is 75. He has shot that seven times out of 41 rounds (third round and fourth round of 1999; first round of 2004; third round and fourth round of 2005; fourth round of 2006; and first round of 2007). • The last time Tiger Woods played a competitive round on TOUR without at birdie came at the 2003 Masters Tournament. Today's birdie-free round was his sixth in his career on TOUR. The others were in the first round of the 2003 Masters (76); third round of the 1999 British Open (74); first round of the 1998 TOUR Championship (75); second round of the 1998 TOUR Championship (76); and fourth round of the 1995 British Open (78). • David Howell withdrew after two holes due to a back injury. ... Darren Clarke withdrew after six holes due to a hamstring injury. ... Daisuke Maruyama withdrew after his round with a back injury. ... Dudley Hart withdrew before his round and Stephen Marino replaced him in the field. • The youngest player in the field this week is Anthony Kim, who is 21 years, 10 months and 24 days -- and is competing in his first PLAYERS. • Retief Goosen was the only player to record a bogey-free round on Thursday. Last year Goosen recorded his first top-10 finish in eight starts at THE PLAYERS. He finished runner-up to Stephen Ames. • The par-72 PLAYERS Stadium Course played to a scoring average of 75.413 on Thursday. The highest first-round average at the PLAYERS Stadium course came in 2000 when the average was 76.194. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
