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By Dave Senko
PGA TOUR staff

• This is third time in the last five years that defending champion Jim Thorpe has led or shared the opening-round lead at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Thorpe fired a 9-under-par 63 to lead Tom Jenkins by three strokes in 2003 and last year opened with a 6-under-par 66 and led Tom Kite by one stroke. He won both of those events. On Thursday, Thorpe, who was the first player off in the morning and playing as a solo (only 29 players in the field), shot an 8-under-par 64 to grab the early lead. However, Eduardo Romero matched his 64 later in the day and the two share the first-round lead.

Jay Haas was tied for fifth after the first round in Sonoma. (Ernst/WireImage)

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• The 8-under-par 64s posted by Thorpe and Romero were one stroke shy of the course record 63 set in 2003 by Thorpe and later matched by Jay Haas in 2005. The 63 is also a tournament record originally set by Bob Charles in 1991 at the Hyatt Dorado Beach East Course and later matched by Jay Sigel (1994) and Bruce Lietzke (2001).

• Thorpe's back-nine 6-under-par 30 matched the low 9-hole score on the Sonoma Golf Club course at this event. Tom Kite posted a 6-under-par 30 (both on the back nine) in 2003 in the first and second rounds.

• Playing as a solo, Thorpe played his round in two hours, 35 minutes.

• Tom Watson, a three-time winner of this tournament, opened with a 2-over-par 74 and is currently tied for 24th. Watson's 74 ended his streak of 15 straight sub-par rounds in this event.

• Loren Roberts, who leads the Charles Schwab Cup race with 2,716 points, is currently tied for 17th after his opening round 1-under-par 71. Roberts leads Jay Haas by 165 points in the season-long race. Haas shot a 4-under-par 68 and is tied for fifth. Only top-10 finishers in this tournament receive points and all top-10 finishers will receive double points this week.

• D.A. Weibring, Mark James, Tom Purtzer and Scott Simpson all posted bogey-free rounds on Thursday.

• The most difficult hole was No. 7 with an average score of 3.310 (+.310) and none of the 29 competitors made a birdie.. Hole No. 4 yielded just one birdie (Bob Gilder). The easiest hole was No. 13 with an average score of 4.552 (-.448). There were 13 birdies. Overall, the field averaged 70.843. In comparison, last year's opening-day scoring average was 70.996.

• Dana Quigley's round included a 54-foot, 9-inch birdie putt on No. 14.

• Eduardo Romero needed just 23 putts on the way to his 8-under-par 64.

• Despite 20 sub-par rounds on Thursday, there were no eagles.

• Tom Kite, a two-time runner-up in this tournament, fired a 1-under-par 71 on Thursday. It was his 17th straight par/better round in this event.