EDS Byron Nelson Championship: First-Round Notebook
By John Bush, PGA TOUR Staff
IRVING, Texas -- Due to heavy overnight rain showers, preferred lies were in effect during the opening round on Thursday.
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• Mathew Goggin, Ryan Moore and Eric Axley opened with matching 3-under 67s Thursday to share the first-round lead by one stroke over eight players, including 2000 EDS Byron Nelson Championship winner Jesper Parnevik and five-time PGA TOUR winner Adam Scott.
• By the numbers: 3-under 67 represents the highest first-round score at the EDS since Dave Barr posted the same score in 1984. The last time as many as three players shared the first-round lead was in 1993, when Russell Beiersdorf, Dan Forsman and Scott Simpson shared top honors.
• Goggin, a 33-year-old native of Tasmania, Australia, is making his 11th start of the season and enters the week with four top-20 finishes in his last six starts, including a season-best tie for seventh at The Honda Classic. He has now held at least a share of the first-round lead twice previously on the PGA TOUR, finishing tied for 22nd at the 2002 Buick Invitational and tied for 35th at the 2008 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.
• Moore, a 25-year-old native of Tacoma, Wash., is making his eighth start of the season and enters the week with just one top-25 finish, a tie for fifth at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. This marks the first time in his TOUR career that he has held the lead after the first round. His only previous start at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship led to a missed cut in 2007 after rounds of 72-71.
• Axley, who turned 34 on Tuesday, is making his 13th start of the season. Among his five made cuts is a season-best tie for 39th at the Puerto Rico Open. This is his third consecutive start at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, following up a tie for 45th in 2006 with a missed cut in 2007. Like Moore, this is the first 18-hole lead of his career.
• First-round leaders have not fared well at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship over the previous 54 playings of the tournament. Only seven players have carried the opening-day lead on to victory, including Scott Simpson (1993), Tom Watson (1979-80), Mark Hayes (1976), Chi Chi Rodriguez (1972), Earl Stewart (1961) and Don January (1956). Only two have won the tournament in wire-to-wire fashion -- Hayes in 1976 and Watson in 1980. (Note: Complete first-round scores are not available for the inaugural event in 1944, which was won by Byron Nelson).
• The first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win four of 17 stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR this season, including most recently Trevor Immelman at the Masters Tournament.
• Trevor Immelman, the runner-up at the 2006 EDS Byron Nelson Championship, struggled to an 8-over 78 in his first start since winning the Masters Tournament. It is his highest score on the PGA TOUR since a 7-over 78 in the second round of the 2007 The Barclays.
• History isn't on Immelman's side this week. Over the last 20 years, only one player has been able to follow up his Masters victory with a PGA TOUR win in his next start -- Tiger Woods at the 1997 EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Of the past 20 Masters champions, only seven were able to record Top-10 finishes in their next TOUR start.
• Kevin Streelman (74) had a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th hole with a 4-iron from 184 yards. It represented the first ace at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship since Vijay Singh performed the feat on the same hole during the final round in 2005.
• Defending champion Scott Verplank opened with a 2-over 72 in his attempt to become the first repeat winner of the EDS Byron Nelson Championship since Tom Watson won three in a row from 1978-80. Verplank, the all-time career earnings leader at the tournament with $2,275,100, is making his 22nd start at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship and is looking for his sixth top-10 finish (first in 2007, second in 2001, fourth in 2003, tied for fifth in 1995 and tied for sixth in 2005).
• Luke Donald needed just one under-par round to tie Phil Mickelson with a tournament-record 13 consecutive under-par rounds at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. He saw his streak snapped at 12, however, with a 2-over 72 on Thursday. Donald finished runner-up here in 2007 -- one of five consecutive top-20 finishes at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
• Johnson Wagner, who notched his first career victory two weeks ago at the Shell Houston Open, returned to the Lone Star State with a 1-under 69 on Thursday -- one of just 24 players with a sub-par round. Wagner is making his second start at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, having recorded rounds of 73-74 last year to miss the cut.
• Corey Pavin, making his 21st career start at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, opened with a 2-over 72. The 15-time PGA TOUR winner needs a victory this week to gain a spot into next month's THE PLAYERS Championship -- an event he has played for 24 consecutive years.
• The opening-round scoring average at the newly-redesigned par-70 TPC Four Seasons was 72.410, the highest since 2000 (73.662). The par-4 15th hole played the toughest at 4.481, while the par-5 seventh hole was the easiest at 4.628. By comparison, the course yielded a 71.410 average on Thursday in 2007.
• Y.E. Yang posted 18 pars on his way to the only bogey-free round on Thursday.
• Six past champions of the EDS Byron Nelson Championship are competing this week, including 2007 champion Scott Verplank (72), 2006 winner Brett Wetterich (72), 2005 winner Ted Purdy (72), 2004 champion Sergio Garcia (71), 2002 victor Shigeki Maruyama (70) and 2000 champion Jesper Parnevik (68).
• The 2008 EDS Byron Nelson Championship features a tournament-record $6.4 million purse, an increase of $100,000 from 2007. Sunday's winner will take home $1,152,000.
• Jason Day withdrew prior to the start of the first round and was replaced by Craig Kanada (69).
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