First round: Kim sizzles, Singh struggles at East Lake
ATLANTA (AP) -- Four days after Anthony Kim humbled Sergio Garcia in the Ryder Cup, he beat 29 players just as badly Thursday at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
Showing no effects of a Ryder Cup hangover, Kim fired off eight birdies on his way to a 6-under 64 in his TOUR Championship debut to build a four-shot lead over Masters champion Trevor Immelman, Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson.
Kim and the other nine Americans from the winning team rarely got through a hole without hearing someone in the gallery congratulate them on their five-point victory over Europe on Sunday. Kim was smiling just as wide as he did Thursday.
"I feel like when I'm happy, having a good time, I'm going to make some birdies," he said. "So it was a good vibe out there."
Vijay Singh wasn't feeling it.
He only has to complete all four rounds at East Lake to capture the FedExCup, and that might have been the best part of his opening round at East Lake -- he finished. But he started poorly, 5 over through 11 holes, before settling for a 73.
Kenny Perry, the Kentucky hero from the Ryder Cup, also found little reason to smile. He opened with a 76, and while that won't take away from his memories of red, white and blue, what irritated him was a pink slip.
It was his summons for drug testing, the second of the year for the 48-year-old Perry.
Good thing the 23-year-old Kim had four days to try to get the Ryder Cup out of his system. He was the life of the party Sunday night, especially after his 5-and-4 victory over Garcia in which Kim made birdie or better on six of his 14 holes.
"Just trying to enjoy the moment," he said. "This Ryder Cup hangover doesn't feel as bad as a college hangover."
As well as he played at the Ryder Cup on a Valhalla course with soft greens and minimal rough, Kim was equally spectacular on an East Lake course that was tough as ever.
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| Thursday's Best |
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The par-5, 525-yard 15th was the easiest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.533.
The par-4, 520-yard fifth was toughest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.5.
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What a way to start the first round at a tough East Lake GC. Jim Furyk's second shot at the par-4, 424-yard first hole took a few bounces then went in for eagle. 
Anthony Kim's 6-under 64 gave him a four-shot lead over the field. Kim's round included eight birdies and two bogeys on a day where only five players broke par. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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KIM OFF TO HOT START IN ATLANTA
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
ATLANTA -- The same Anthony Kim who out-Sergioed Sergio Garcia at the Ryder Cup showed up to play at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola on Thursday.
The joyful 23-year-old wasn't whipping the crowd into a patriotic frenzy like he did at Valhalla when he beat the Spaniard 5 & 4 in the opening singles match on Sunday. But Kim was hitting the same kind of precise shots and holing a bevy of birdie putts in the first round of the final event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
Kim opened a four-shot lead on Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman and his Ryder Cup teammate, Phil Mickelson, with his round of 6-under 64 on a day when East Lake Golf Club was playing more than two strokes over par. Only one other player, K.J. Choi, who shot 69 on Thursday, managed to break par in the breezy afternoon.
"The course is playing a lot tougher than I had heard about," said Kim, who is bidding to become the first player since Bart Bryant in 2005 to win THE TOUR Championship in his debut. "I thought ... the winning score was going to be around 20 under again, and I don't think it's going to get there.
"The greens are so firm out here you have to take some less aggressive lines and just try to two-putt on some of these holes, and when you do have an opportunity, make a birdie or two."
Kim had plenty of those opportunities on Thursday, too -- eight to be exact.
An bogey on the first hole was just a momentary setback as Kim went on to make birdie putts of 2, 2, 8 and 15 feet to turn in 32. He rolled in a 6-footer at the 10th and another from the fringe, 25 feet away, at No. 11 to continue the surge, then followed his lone back-nine bogey with two more birdies to match his front-nine tally.
"Almost everything in my game was clicking pretty well out there," Kim said. "If you don't drive it in the fairway and you get a dicey lie in the rough, there's no way you're going to keep the ball on the greens out here.
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RYDER CUP HANGOVERS: FACT AND FICTION
By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor
| 62 | Tim Clark's first-round score at THE TOUR Championship last year. |
| 78 | Clark's first-round score in 2008 at THE TOUR Championship. |
| 16 | The stroke difference between Clark's 2007 and 2008 start, which meant the difference between holding the first-round lead (2007) and sitting in 30th place (2008). |
ATLANTA -- Perhaps we finally got an answer to the question that has been bugging mankind since the beginning of time: How long does a Ryder Cup hangover last?
By most accounts, it's two days. At least that's how long Anthony Kim said his hangover lasted after helping to lead the U.S. team to victory at Valhalla. He ate a lot. Slept a lot. Watched a lot of TV. Then he went out and made a lot of birdies (eight to be exact) in scorching East Lake for a 6-under 64 in Thursday's first round of THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
Phil Mickelson, Kim's partner for three Ryder Cup matches, also needed a couple of days before getting back to work. So did Ben Curtis.
"Monday and Tuesday were tough for me," Curtis said. "I definitely wouldn't have wanted to be out here then."
But then, some of the 11 Ryder Cuppers playing at East Lake may have wished they could've had a raincheck Thursday, especially at a course that was playing brutally tough, the firm greens and Bermuda rough making for a mental and physical challenge for the 30 players in the field.
Kenny Perry was 6 over. Stewart Cink was 5 over. Hunter Mahan, who produced more points than any other American player, was 4 over. In all, eight of those 11 Ryder Cuppers finished above par.
So how do you explain Kim's performance? Well, he's young, talented and incredibly locked in right now, both with his focus and his game. Thursday's round was just an extension of the way he played in Sunday's singles match against Sergio Garcia, when he blitzed the Spaniard 5 and 4.
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FIRST TIME'S THE CHARM?
This is Anthony Kim's first start at THE TOUR Championship and he's hoping to become the first player since Bart Bryant in 2005 to capture the title in his initial try.
Kim does have history on his side. In the past 21 years of THE TOUR Championship, the first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win the tournament 10 times. Who was the last to do so? Again, first-timer Bart Bryant. Bryant and Vijay Singh are the only players to have accomplished this feat at East Lake Golf Club.
In building a four-stroke lead after just one day, Kim also tied a 2008 record. Only one other player had such a large margin after 18 holes. Take a look at the largest 18-hole leads this season:
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To read more tidbits from the first round of THE TOUR Championship, click here.
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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK XM
Radio announcer Brian Katrek offers these observations from Thursday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
There are so many cool things about this East Lake Golf Club. If you come here, tour the clubhouse. It is a virtual Bobby Jones museum. There are replicas of his Grand Slam trophies, clubs that he used, and lots of other memorabilia. The clubhouse is a must see.
The clubhouse is also a lot bigger than it was last year. The original plans were dug out of the basement of the Atlanta History Center and included a 20,000 square foot addition which was never built. It has been added this year and looks like it has been here forever.
There is something about hitting a ball into the water that shakes your confidence. The players this week will have to overcome that feeling as many of them will start their days by hitting as many as 10 balls in the water in a row. See, the driving range here has a finger of East Lake jutting in that requires a 95-yard carry. Most of these players start their warm-up routines with shorter shots than that. Thus, lots of balls in the water. The balls are collected at the end of the week.
THINGS TO WATCH ON FRIDAY
1. Scoring average. Thurday's scoring average was the highest scoring average in the tournament's history at East Lake GC. With a renovated course that features difficult greens, will the scoring average continue to be high or, as players adjust, will it decrease?
2. K.J. Choi. A two-time winner in 2007 and an early winner this season, Choi hasn't made much noise lately. In fact, he's only finished in the top-15 once in his last five starts. But he opened with a 1-under 69 and is a player to look out for this weekend.
3. Sergio Garcia. He started Thursday with a bogey, a double bogey and another bogey in his first six holes. Then he righted the ship and went on to make five birdies and just one bogey. Can he overcome last week's loss to Kim and finish strong at East Lake? He's certainly in a good position after Day 1.
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