PODS Championship: First-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff PALM HARBOR, Fla. -- Cliff Kresge, who leads the PODS Championship after the opening round on Thursday, is making his third career start in this event. He missed the cut in his two previous starts at Innisbrook (2003 -- 75-76; 2004 -- 73-71).  Vijay Singh, the only top-10 player in the field this week, opened with a 70. (Fred Vuich/WireImage)
• Kresge's 65 was good for a two-shot lead over Daniel Chopra, Arron Oberholser, Anthony Kim and Doug LaBelle II. This is the first time in his career that Kresge has held/shared the opening-round lead on the PGA TOUR. In fact, this is the first time Kresge has held a lead after any round during his TOUR career, which now totals 114 starts. • Kresge posted the best morning round with a 6-under 65 in which he hit nine of 13 fairways, 15 of 18 greens in regulation and had 27 putts on the day. Kresge was 8 under par through 11 holes after making his second eagle of the day. The New Jersey native was bogey-free through 15 holes before stumbling with bogeys at Nos. 16 and 18. Kresge's career-best opening round in 114 PGA TOUR starts (includes this week) was a 7-under-par 63 at the 2003 Valero Texas Open. • One of Kresge's eagles was a 2 on the 465-yard sixth hole. Kresge used a 5-iron to dunk his second shot from 184 yards out. It is only the second eagle on that hole in the seven-year history of the event at the Copperhead Course. Ryuji Imada had the first one -- during the first round in 2006, using a 9-iron. • With Daniel Chopra and Jesper Parnevik on the leaderboard, it brings up the possibility of another win by a native of Sweden. Henrik Stenson's recent win at the World Gold Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship was the 10th PGA TOUR win by a Swede. Others with wins: Gabriel Hjertstedt (2 wins), Jesper Parnevik (5 wins) and Carl Pettersson (2 wins). • Defending champion K. J. Choi (69) recorded the first eagle 2 on the par-4 third hole in tournament history. Choi, a winner here in 2002 and 2006, holed his second shot from 197 yards on the 439-yard hole.
• Ryan Moore had a hole-in-one at the 228-yard, par-3 17th hole using a 21-degree hybrid. Moore is the second player in tournament history to ace that hole. Jonathan Kaye was the first to do it, in the first round in 2004. • Rookie Anthony Kim posted the best opening-round score of his brief PGA TOUR career when he carded a 4-under 67. Kim is making his ninth career start and seventh this year. His previous best was a 1-under 69 at the 2006 Valero Texas Open, where he finished second in his very first TOUR start. • Only two players were free of bogeys on the day. Ryan Armour had a clean card in his morning 69, while John Senden followed suit with his afternoon 69. • Stephen Ames withdrew prior to the start of the round and was replaced by John Merrick. Steve Flesch withdrew after the first round. • Thursday's scoring average on the par-71 course was 72.340. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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