Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am: First-Round Notebook  Champions Tour Media Official LUTZ, Fla. -- Two-time major champion and 16-time PGA TOUR winner, Mark O'Meara, carded a 3-over 74 in his first round as a member of the Champions Tour on Friday at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am. O'Meara is bidding to become the 12th player in Champions Tour history to win in his debut and the first since Mark McNulty won this event in his debut in 2004.  Mark O'Meara is looking for more confidence in his ball-striking. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
"There was probably a little more pressure since the last few years there really hasn't been as much attention on me," said O'Meara. "Then people see me come out here on the Champions Tour and they say, he's won 16 times on the PGA TOUR with two majors, and all of a sudden I'm thrown back into a pressure situation, which I don't mind. "I certainly would like to be hitting the ball with a little more confidence than I am right now, no matter whether I'm playing the Champions Tour or any other Tour," he added. "When we don't compete at a level we'd like to, whether it's the Champions Tour or any other Tour, we're upset." • There were only five rounds in the 60s on Friday and only eight players broke par at the TPC Tampa Bay. This marked the fewest rounds in the 60s since 1999, when there were only three and the fewest rounds under par since 1996, when there were none. • All eight sub-par rounds were shot during the morning wave. Andy Bean was the only player to shoot even-par 71 in the afternoon. • Friday's first-round scoring average was 74.500, the highest since a 74.356 first-round stroke average in 1999. The most difficult hole on Friday was the par-4 15th with an average score of 4.592. The hole only yielded four birdies on the day. The par-5 7th played as the easiest hole at 4.658, yielding three eagles and 26 birdies. • David Eger stands alone at the top of the leaderboard with a 4-under 67. The last time he held a first-round lead on the Champions Tour was at the 2004 Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, where he went on to finish T5. Eger is playing this week on a sponsor exemption. • At age 64, Tom Wargo is T2 after posting a 3-under-par 68, his lowest round on the Champions Tour since a second-round 68 last October at the AT&T Championship. • Tom Wargo/John Mamoudis and Scott Simpson/Bill Murray share the lead in the pro-am portion of the event with 8-under-par 63. Mamoudis, from Virginia Beach, Va., was the fourth-place finisher in the long drive competition last year. Murray played with Simpson last week at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA TOUR but missed the cut. • Loren Roberts fired a 1-under-par 70 and extended his streak of consecutive sub-par rounds to 24. Roberts' streak dates back to an opening-round 67 at the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach last fall. • Doug Tewell withdrew with an elbow injury prior to the first round and was replaced in the field by Massy Kuramoto. Kuramoto posted an opening-round 77 and is T59. • Defending champion Jerry Pate opened with a 2-over-par 73 and is T21. • Graham Marsh, Des Smyth and Bruce Summerhays all hit 14 of 14 fairways on Friday. R.W. Eaks hit a best in the field 14 of 18 greens in regulation. David Eger had the fewest putts with 24, including 12 one-putts. Jim Thorpe's 303-yard drive on the 10th hole was the longest measured drive today. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
PGATOUR.com is part of Turner - SI Digital, part of the Turner Sports & Entertainment Digital Network 