Stanford St. Jude Championship: First-Round Notebook

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Boo Weekley got his game back on track in his fourth start since winning the Verizon Heritage in April with an opening-round 65 on Thursday, which in turn marked his first round in the 60s since the win.

Defending champ Woody Austin opened with a 1-over 71. (Badz/PGA TOUR)

Past Champions

Through 18 Holes

Player Score Standing Justin Leonard 68 T4 Woody Austin 71 T39 Jeff Maggert 71 T39 David Toms 72 T56 Larry Mize 73 T69 Bob Estes 74 T90 Dicky Pride 75 T106 Len Mattiace 78 T139 Jim Gallagher Jr. 79 T146 Notah Begay III 80 T150

• This marks the first time in Weekley's PGA TOUR career in which he has been a leader/co-leader through 18 holes of a TOUR event. He was tied for 23rd after the first round of his victory in the 2008 Verizon Heritage and tied for fifth after the first round of his victory in the 2007 Verizon Heritage.

• Weekley finished tied for 19th at the 2002 Stanford St. Jude Championship, marking the best finish of his rookie season on the PGA TOUR. Weekley only made five cuts in 23 starts that year.

• The first-round leader has won the Stanford St. Jude Championship 12 times in the tournament's 50-year history. Justin Leonard was the last to do so in 2005, when he parlayed an opening-round 62 into his 10th PGA TOUR title with a wire-to-wire victory.

• This season has proved difficult for first-round leaders to hang on to the lead for the next 54 holes as only five have gone on to win in 23 stroke-play events in 2008.

• Tommy Armour III is making his 14th career start at the Stanford St. Jude Championship this week and opened with a round of 66. This marks the low first-round score for Armour in this event as he tries to claim his first top-10 in Memphis since a tie for 10th in 1988.

• Vijay Singh opened with a round of 67 on Thursday and is hoping to continue past success of playing the week prior to the U.S. Open. Singh won the 1993 Barclays (his first PGA TOUR title) and the 2006 Barclays the week before playing in the U.S. Open each year.

• Singh was one of only three players to record eagles on Thursday, with his coming at the par-5 third. The other two came from Mark Calcavecchia (No. 3) and Bob Sowards (No. 16).

• Singh, who entered the week ranked 74th on the 2008 PGA TOUR in Putting Average, finished the day ranked first in the field in that category with an average of 1.364 (putts per green in regulation).

• Davis Love III, making only his second start at the Stanford St. Jude Championship since 1999, opened with a round of 2-under 68 on Thursday. Love, who finished T4 here in 2005, only has one top-10 finish in his last 28 starts on the PGA TOUR (tie for sixth at the World Golf Championships-WGC-Bridgestone Invitational).

• Sergio Garcia (68) is only the second current PLAYERS Championship winner to tee it up at the Stanford St. Jude Championship in the past 10 years, joining Fred Funk, who finished third in 2005 after winning at TPC Sawgrass earlier that year.

• PGA TOUR rookie Cody Freeman's first-round 68 was a welcome relief after missing his previous six cuts in a row. Freeman's best finish this year is a tie for 59th at the Northern Trust Open.

• Defending champion Woody Austin was two-under par through 13 holes before playing the last five holes in three over for a round of 71. David Toms (2003-04) and Lee Trevino (1971-72) are the only players to successfully defend their titles at the Stanford St. Jude Championship. In 23 tournaments with defending champions this year (Puerto Rico Open is a first-year event), the 2007 winner has finished in the top 10 only six times.

• Two-time tournament champion David Toms, who has six straight top-10 finishes in this event, posted a 2-over 72 Thursday, thus marking the first time since 1999 that he has opened with an over-par round in Memphis.

• Third-year PGA TOUR player Jeff Overton was in the lead while standing on the 12th tee Thursday before playing his final seven holes in 6 over par for a round of 70. One of Overton's three top-10 finishes of the 2007 PGA TOUR season came at the Stanford St. Jude Championship, where a final-round 66 vaulted him from a tie for 25th to a tie for 10th.

• Overton's 5-under 30 on the front nine at TPC Southwind is one off the low nine for the 2008 season (shared by six players) and two off the front-nine tournament record, which is shared by Joel Edwards (second round of 2002 at Southwind) and Bob Charles (second round of 1964 at Colonial).

• David Duval overcame a start of 4 over par through three holes to card a round of even-par 70 on Thursday, marking only his second round of par or better in the 2008 season.

• The last two winners of the Stanford St. Jude Championship have opened with rounds of 2-over 72. Players of note who shot 72 on Thursday include John Daly, Fred Funk, and David Toms.

• Glen Day (69) was the only player to record a bogey-free round on Thursday.

• At the end of the day, seven players from the morning wave found themselves inside the top 10, while only three (Singh, Leonard, Appleby) from the afternoon wave made their way in.

• The most difficult hole at the TPC Southwind in Thursday's opening round was the par-4 12th, which played to an average of 4.445.

• Thursday's first round produced the fourth-highest single-round scoring average vs. par at TPC Southwind at +3.090. The highest cane in the first round last year at +4.188, while the second highest was the +3.505 in the first round of 2004 and the third highest was the +3.149 in the first round of 2006.

• Michael Allen was disqualified on Thursday for failing to sign his scorecard. ... Kent Jones withdrew after the completion of the first round.