Children's Miracle Network Classic: First-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Due to wet conditions on both golf courses being used this week, players will play preferred lies for both the first and second rounds. This is the ninth event on the 2007 PGA TOUR in which players have played preferred lies. • The first round was delayed by five minutes on each course Thursday due to darkness.  Cameron Beckman is trying to make his seventh straight cut in the 2007 Fall Series. (Cannon/WireImage)
• J.P. Hayes entered this week in the unenviable position of No. 123 on the PGA TOUR money list. After his tie for sixth at this year's PLAYERS Championship, Hayes climbed up to 71st on the money list before eventually falling out of the top 100 after the Reno-Tahoe Open. • What might be the difference for Hayes so far this week? The two-time PGA TOUR winner entered the week tied for 95th (1.788 putts per GIR) on TOUR in Putting Average, but wound up first (1.385) in that statistic after round one. • This is the fifth time in Hayes' PGA TOUR career in which he has been a leader/co-leader through 18 holes: • This is the fifth time in Hayes' PGA TOUR career in which he has been a leader/co-leader through 18 holes. He wound up finishing second at the 2006 John Deere Classic, tied for 41st at the 2000 Michelob Championship at Kingsmill, tied for second at the 2000 Honda Classic and tied for 10th at the 2000 Nissan Open. • Cameron Beckman's first-round 66 continued his trend of good play through the PGA TOUR's Fall Series. The 2001 Viking Classic champion has made six out of six cuts in the Fall Series with two top-5 finishes (tied for third at the Frys.com Open; tied for fifth at the Ginn sur Mer Classic). Thursday's 66 is his 20th round under par in the 25 rounds he has played in the Fall Series. • Beckman entered the Fall Series ranked 147th on the 2007 PGA TOUR money list and entered the Children's Miracle Network Classic ranked 118th. • Scott Verplank's first-round 66 has him possibly eyeing a second PGA TOUR win for the 2007 season. The five-time TOUR winner, if he is to win, might want to do his damage in the first three rounds as he has only broken 70 four times in the final round this year. • Verplank has been a study of consistency through the years at the Children's Miracle Network Classic. The 2007 EDS Byron Nelson Championship winner has made his last 11 cuts in a row at this event with his only missed cut falling in 1988. • Sixty-five is the highest first-round score to lead at the Children's Miracle Network Classic since 2001, when Steve Lowery, Stewart Cink, Scott McCarron, Len Mattiace, and Shaun Micheel opened with rounds of 65 as well. • The last first round leader/co-leader to go on to claim the title at the Children's Miracle Network Classic was Bob Burns in 2002 (63-68-67-65--263).
• Dicky Pride had missed seven consecutive cuts heading into last week's Ginn sur Mer Classic before a final-round 64 (highlighted by birdies on his last four holes) left him in fourth place and moved him from 194th to 159th on the 2007 PGA TOUR money list. Pride's first-round 67 on Thursday has him in position to move into the top 150 and gain an exemption into the final stage of PGA TOUR Qualifying School. He currently sits $54,992 behind Anders Hansen, who is No. 150 on the money list. • Defending champion Joe Durant opened his title defense with a round of 4-under-par 68. The last Children's Miracle Network Classic winner to successfully defend his title was Tim Simpson in 1990. • Bogey-free rounds on Thursday came from Cameron Beckman, Scott Verplank, Ryuji Imada, Tim Clark, Vaughn Taylor, Steve Marino, Joe Durant, Carl Pettersson, Heath Slocum, Lucas Glover, Brent Geiberger. • 2006 Nationwide Tour graduate Bryce Molder, who carded a first-round 68, is coming off his best finish on TOUR last week (tie for 21st) since a tie for 12th at The Barclays in 2002. The four-time first-team All America selection while at Georgia Tech has struggled for much of the 2007 season with 11 missed cuts to start the year before making the weekend in six of his past nine starts. • With Steve Flesch opting not to play this week, Justin Leonard (67) has a great chance to be the leading money winner for the PGA TOUR's Fall Series. Leonard began the week $22,289 behind Flesch. • After carding only 15 rounds in the 60s in his first 23 events this year, Leonard has turned the corner this fall with 13 rounds in the 60s in his last 18 rounds total (including Thursday). • The most difficult hole on the Palm Course was the par-4 18th, which played to an average of 4.364. The most difficult hole on the Magnolia Course was the par-4 fifth, which played to an average of 4.141. • PGA Professional Ron Philo Jr. was the only player in the field who managed to hit 14 of 14 fairways in regulation on Thursday. |
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