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By Stewart Moore
PGA TOUR Staff

HARRISON, N.Y. -- Rory Sabbatini opened the inaugural FedExCup PLAYOFFS with a round of 8-under-par 63 and takes a one-shot lead into Friday's second round. This is Sabbatini's seventh first-round lead/co-lead in a PGA TOUR event. He has yet to convert one of those leads into a victory.

Rory Sabbatini is looking for his first win after leading the first round of the PGA TOUR event. (Nick Laham/WireImage)

SABBATINI AFTER LEADING

FIRST ROUND OF PGA TOUR EVENT

Event Finish 2007 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational T2 2007 PLAYERS Championship T44 2006 Wachovia Championship T52 2006 Sony Open in Hawaii T2 2005 PGA Championship T74 2003 Bank of America Colonial T5

• Rory Sabbatini's Player Page

• Sabbatini's round of 63 tied the first-round 18-hole low total at The Barclays, shared now by six players, including PGA TOUR Tournament Director Slugger White. The last player to hold the first-round lead at The Barclays and parlay that into victory was Dennis Paulson in 2000 (65-68-75-68--276).

• The first-round scoring average of 70.920 is the lowest first-round average at Westchester Country Club since 1983, when the TOUR began keeping such statistics.

• Drive for show and putt for dough? Brian Gay recorded 20 putts in his first-round 65, two off the all-time PGA TOUR record of 18, shared by six players. Gay, playing in his 280th TOUR event, is still looking for his first win. He is 13th on that list of non-winners, but well behind leader Jay Delsing, who has made 542 starts without a victory.

• Briny Baird (66) is no stranger to success in first-round play at The Barclays. Baird opened the 2003 event with a round of 63 and held a three-shot lead over Jim Furyk and Joey Sindelar before finishing tied for 30th on the week.

• Ernie Els used eagles at the par-5 fifth and the par-5 ninth en route to a first-round 65. Els is the 28th player to record two eagles in one round on the PGA TOUR in 2007.

• Ernie Els is coming off of a third-place finish at the PGA Championship two weeks ago. The last time Els recorded back-to-back top-five finishes on the PGA TOUR was at the start of the 2005 season (tied for third at the Mercedes Championships; finished second at the Sony Open).

• Phil Mickelson opened his tournament with a 4-under-par round of 67 that has him looking for his first career top-10 at The Barclays. While Mickelson has recorded four straight top-25 finishes at The Barclays, he has yet to record a top-10. Thursday's round was Phil Mickelson's third under-par effort in his past 15 rounds on TOUR.

• Vijay Singh carded an opening-round 75 on Thursday, marking the third consecutive event at which he has begun with a round over par (74, World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational; 75, PGA Championship). It was 2003 when Singh last carded over-par opening rounds at three straight PGA TOUR events (Bay Hill, PLAYERS, Masters).

• Singh's round of 75 also marks the fifth consecutive year in which the defending champion at The Barclays has begun his title defense with a round over par.

• Bogey-free rounds on Thursday came from Rory Sabbatini, Steve Flesch, Heath Slocum, Jerry Kelly, and Anthony Kim. Tim Clark (69) and Mark Calcavecchia (67) were the only players in the field who hit 14 of 14 fairways in Thursday's opening round.

• The par-4 11th played as the most difficult hole on Thursday with a scoring average of 4.328. The par-4 12th, which has played as the hardest hole every year since 1998, was second with a Thursday-average of 4.307.

• Gavin Coles withdrew during the round due to severe neck pain. Stephen Leaney withdrew after round one with a left wrist injury.