Back in comfort zone, Trahan again starts well in Mississippi  PGATOUR.com Correspondent MADISON, Miss. -- Bees make honey. Cows produce milk. Don't blame you if you're wondering what those two sentences above have to do with the first round of the Viking Classic, the second tournament in the seven-event Fall Finish on the 2007 PGA TOUR.  Defending champion D.J. Trahan was at his red-numbers best again on Thursday. (Schultz/WireImage)
Just look at it this way. Here's what happens whenever D.J. Trahan arrives at Annandale Country Club just outside the Mississippi capital of Jackson: He makes birdies and produces low numbers. Trahan, the defending champion, was at his red-numbers best again Thursday on this 7,199-yard Jack Nicklaus design that apparently suits his eye as well as any player in this field of 132. He shot a bogey-free 66 that for him seemed like par for the course although not quite as masterful as leader Briny Baird's 63 in the rain-interrupted round that will be completed Friday morning. But Trahan won't argue with the deficit knowing he has three more chances to take it deep. Thursday marked Trahan's ninth competitive trip around Annandale. The next time he matches its par of 72 will be the first time he wasn't under it. "I feel comfortable here,'' said Trahan, who grabbed the lead here last year with an opening-round 65 and never relinquished it. No kidding. It's not like that's a case Sherlock Holmes might want to sink his deductive skills into. It has much too obvious a conclusion. Counting last year's three-hole playoff against Joe Durant, Trahan has played a total of 165 holes here. Visits from the bogeyman have been few and far between to a player with an aggregate of 37 under. It includes three successive overtime birdies he made on the par-5 18th to defeat Durant. Welcome to his comfort zone, complete with the heat, humidity and Bermuda greens of Trahan's youth. "My kind of weather,'' said Trahan, who grew up in Mount Pleasant, S.C. "My kind of place. It brings back good memories and good feelings.'' Trahan, 26, fully expected 2007 to be his kind of season too. He believed he would feed off the momentum gathered late in 2006 that led to his breakthrough victory and a $1 million-plus performance in his second year on TOUR. Instead he has been met with frustration despite the fact that he has made more cuts this year (16) than he did in either 2005 (14) or 2006 (13). "This has been a very average year,'' he said. "The thing is, I've gone into tournaments with a positive frame of mind. That usually is a key.'' Trahan feels he is hitting the ball better than ever, but his scores don't reflect it because niggling little mistakes have snuffed momentum too often, transforming potential 66s and 67s into reality-bites 69s and 70s. "The key to keeping momentum is minimizing your mistakes,'' he said. "I've been beating up 30th- to 45th-place finishes. The difference between 30th and 15th is a couple of shots and the difference between 15th and 10th is another couple.'' So Trahan, who has been sidelined three weeks with a sprained ring finger on his right hand ("I did it at home goofing around with some friends,'' he said), came to the Viking "looking for a small tweak'' in his game. He is trying a new approach to 72 holes this week. His aim is to play smarter. He applied the method -- successfully -- when he reached the accessible 532-yard 18th. Trahan's drive rolled through the fairway, trickling into the rough. He faced an approach of 215 yards over water to the hole. But he would have had an iron in his hands had he elected to make an aggressive play. Instead he was restrained, selecting the safe route rather than the dicey one. He laid up to 80 yards, hit a wedge to 15 feet and knocked in his sixth birdie of the day. "I knew I could pull the (second) shot off, but I didn't want to force it,'' he said. "And if I didn't, I might have made six and walked off the course (angry).'' The conventional method worked as well as grip-it-and-rip-it. Trahan exited with a satisfied smile for more than one reason. Had he not won here last year he likely would have skipped in order to rest his finger, which is still swollen and discolored. "I figured it would have been a bad thing not to come,'' he said. Besides, Trahan had grown weary of his role as a couch potato. X-rays showed no serious damage and the chance for further injury was miniscule provided he refused to shake hands using his right. So his decision was an easy and correct one. Trahan experienced slight discomfort on full shots Thursday, but certainly nothing that affected him adversely as he hit 16 greens in regulation in a ball-striking round that belied his layoff. Then again, he was returning to a place that will always have a soft spot in his heart. "I just feel comfortable on every hole and every shot here,'' he said. |
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