FedEx Kinko's Classic: First-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff LAKEWAY, Texas -- Sixty-year-old Leonard Thompson's 8-under-par 64 on Friday set a new FedEx Kinko's Classic tournament record, breaking the old mark of 65 set in the opening round of the 2003 tournament by Joe Inman. It was later matched by Tom Kite (2003), Bob Gilder (2004) and Jay Haas (2006).  At 331 yards, Massy Kuramoto had one of the two longest drives of the day on Friday. (Chris Condon/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
• Thompson's 64 was just his second round in the 60s at this event in 13 starts. His best finish in Austin has been a T19 in 2003. • Thompson's 64 was not his low round on the Champions Tour. He twice shot a 63, the most recent one coming in the opening round of the 2003 Emerald Coast Classic in Milton, Fla. The other came at the 1999 Kroger Senior Classic near Cincinnati. • The last time Thompson held a first-round lead in a Champions Tour tournament was at the 2005 Bank of America Championship near Boston, and his two-stroke lead is the largest first-round margin in tournament history. The previous mark was one stroke by Joe Inman in 2003 and Jim Thorpe in 2005. • Friday's scoring average of 72.385 was more than a stroke lower than a year ago, when the field averaged 73.487 in the first round. Friday's average was also the lowest first-round scoring average in the five-year history of the event. The previous low was 72.818 in 2004. • Keith Fergus' string of consecutive holes without a three-putt ended at 219 when he had a three-putt at No. 13. That was the longest streak on the Champions Tour in that category this year. Mark O'Meara, who is not in the event, is the new leader with 200 straight. • Speaking of streaks, Bruce Summerhays extended his string of events played for which he's been eligible to 158 straight when he played on Friday. Summerhays' streak is currently the longest on the Champions Tour. Dana Quigley holds the all-time record for consecutive eligible events played with 278 straight. Mike McCullough's 177 consecutive eligible events played ranks second. • Leonard Thompson, Loren Roberts, Scott Hoch, Tom Kite, Bobby Wadkins, Fuzzy Zoeller and R.W. Eaks all posted bogey-free rounds on Friday. • Defending champion Jay Haas shot a 1-under-par 71 and is currently T23. • It should come as no surprise that the most difficult hole on Friday was No. 9 with a scoring average of 4.346. In 2003, the inaugural year of the tournament, the ninth hole played as the eighth-hardest on the Champions Tour, while in 2004 it was the second most difficult. It was fourth hardest in 2005 and second hardest again last year. • Loren Roberts' record streak of par/better rounds ended at 37 at the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, but his 6-under-par 66 on Friday marked the 18th consecutive time he had opened a tournament with a sub-par round dating back to the 2006 season. • Bobby Wadkins had the fewest putts on Friday with 23 and had 13 one-putts. Wadkins will tee it up in next week's THE PLAYERS Championship where he earned a berth after winning last year's Ford Senior Players Championship near Detroit. • Massy Kuramoto and R.W. Eaks had the day's long drives at 331 yards on Nos. 13 and 15, respectively. • D.A. Weibring made the second hole-in-one in tournament history when he aced No. 3 with a 6-iron on the 193-yard hole. It was the first of his Champions Tour career. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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