First round: Jones, Letzig lead in suspended round
PALM COAST, Fla. (AP) -- Kent Jones recovered from a tee shot in the rough to birdie the 18th hole Thursday for a 7-under 65, giving him a share of the lead with rookie Michael Letzig in the first round of the Ginn sur Mer Classic.
They had a two-shot margin over Ryan Palmer, who birdied three of his first five holes and eased his way to a 67.
Jones and Letzig played college golf at New Mexico a decade apart, but that's where the similarities end.
Letzig, who had never played a PGA TOUR event in his life until earning his card last year through the Nationwide Tour, is 109th on the money list and is in good shape to keep his job for next year.
Jones has spent most of his 10-year career around the 125th spot on the money list -- the cutoff for keeping his card -- and he arrived at the Ginn Ocean Hammock Resort at No. 179.
He hacked out of waist-high native grass with a 5-iron into a fairway bunker on the par-5 18th hole, then hit 6-iron into 6 feet for an unlikely birdie that gave him a share of the lead.
"That was my best round of the year, but that's not saying much," Jones said. "I played very solid. For some reason, I seem to play better in the fall. I would like to play better earlier in the year and not put this pressure on myself, but I can't think about that."
Letzig, who has no such worries, made six of his birdies from outside 20 feet and matched Jones with a bogey-free round.
"It was all putting," Letzig said. "I pretty much secured my card last week, so there's no pressure. It's been a lot of stress all year, with a lot of middle-of-the-field finishes but the pressure is off and I'm kind of keeping relaxed out there."
Cameron Beckman, who won in Arizona last week to earn a two-year exemption on tour, kept right on rolling with birdies on two of his last three holes for a 4-under 68 to join a group that included James Driscoll, Tom Scherrer and Robert Allenby, who at No. 30 in the world is the highest-ranked player at the Ginn sur Mer Classic.
Vaughn Taylor, at No. 129 on the money list, was in a group at 69.
Jeff Overton, playing only a week after an emergency appendectomy because he has fallen to No. 126 on the money list, got off to a strong start before he settled for a 71.
Driscoll had his own medical issues, playing the last eight holes with a gash in his thumb after a tee split when he was using it to repair a pitch mark on the 11th green.
A sliver of the tee impaled itself in his thumb, but he removed it and made a 20-foot birdie putt while still dripping blood. He bandaged the wound and kept going, closing with seven pars while missing only one green and no fairways.
"These greens are hard," he said. "It was nasty. But I taped it up, and it was fine."
Defending champion Daniel Chopra, who won last year in south Florida, had two double bogeys for an 81. He wasn't the only one to had a tough day on the Conservatory Course. Davis Love III, coming off eight consecutive rounds in the 60s, had a 75.
Patrick Sheehan, holding down the 125th spot on the money list, opened with a 74.
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| Thursday's Best |
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The par-5, 602-yard ninth was easiest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.701.
The par-4, 467-yard second was toughest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.295.
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Michael Bradley eagled the par-5 ninth hole, the easiest hole of the day, in dramatic fashion. He chipped from the right rough and watched his ball hit the pin and fall in the hole. 
A pair of University of New Mexico alums fired a pair of 65s in the first round. Kent Jones and Michael Letzig both had bogey-free rounds with seven birdies. Scorecards: | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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GINN SUR MER CLASSIC: FIRST-ROUND NOTEBOOK
By John Bush, PGA TOUR Staff
• Michael Letzig and Kent Jones -- both graduates of the University of New Mexico - posted matching bogey-free 7-under 65s on Thursday to share the first-round lead at the Ginn sur Mer Classic -- the sixth of seven events on the PGA TOUR Fall Series. Ryan Palmer, with a 5-under 67, is two shots back.
• A total of five players did not finish their round as darkness settled in over the par-72 Conservatory Course. Those players will be back in position -- on the par-5 ninth hole -- at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The second round will begin, as scheduled, at 7:40 a.m. The list of players includes Kyle Thompson (2-under thru 17), Bobby Clampett (1-under thru 17), Andrew Buckle (1-over thru 17), Ron Whittaker (even thru 17) and Chip Deason (even thru 17).
| 4 | Number of bogey-free rounds on Thursday. |
| 81 | Score shot by defending champion Daniel Chopra in the first round. |
| 100 | How many rounds Robert Allenby has played this season in 26 events. |
• Kent Jones has now held or shared the first-round lead three times in his career. The others came at the 2008 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am (T48) and the 2002 Buick Open (T14). This represents the first lead after any round for Michael Letzig on the PGA TOUR.
• History isn't on Jones and Letzig's side this season, as the first-round leader/co-leader has won just nine times in 44 events, including most recently Marc Turnesa at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
• Michael Letzig, currently No. 109 on the official money list, has now posted six consecutive rounds in the 60s, dating back to a 69 in the second round of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (missed cut). Last week, he posted rounds of 69-66-68-68 for a T29 finish at the Frys.com Open. He recorded a career-best 63 in the third round of the 2008 Travelers Championship on his way to a career-best T10 finish.
• Kent Jones, No. 179 on the money list, is making his 22nd start of the season. He is still seeking his first top-10 finish of the year, but enters the week having posted all four top-25 finishes in his last nine starts, dating back to a season-best T19 at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.
To read the remainder of these notes, click here.
INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
XM Satellite Radio announcer Mark Carnevale offers these observations from Friday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
Sometimes you need some bad breaks before things go your way. Brenden Pappas was 1 over as he stood on the ninth tee, his final hole in Thursday's first round of the Ginn sur Mer Classic. His tee shot, a long one down the left side which might have allowed him to go for the green in two, instead landed on a drain and bounced into the water some 70 yards ahead. Undaunted, he took his shoes off to play the shot and eventually made par. That may be the kind of luck Pappas -- who entered the tournament 170th on the PGA TOUR money list -- needs in order to finish inside the all-exempt top 125.
Ryan Armour played an early practice round on Monday morning so he could return to Jupiter, Fla., where his wife Erin was to have labor induced the following day. Their second child was a boy who they named David Patrick. Ryan returned for his tee time Thursday morning and promptly got it to 2 under through 10 holes, but he eventually finished with a 2-over 74. Come on, Ryan: "Baby needs a new pair of shoes."
The Conservatory Course at The Hammock Beach resort in Palm Coast , Fla., was designed by eight-time major champion Tom Watson. There is a slight resemblance to a Scottish links with extremely difficult bunkering. I played in the Tom Watson Fall Invitational at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W. Va., in early September. (Tom has replaced Sam Snead as the Golf Pro Emeritus at the resort.) Two weeks after the event, Tom underwent hip replacement surgery. All I can say is the Champions Tour had better watch out -- the man stills stripes it.
FAXON BACK WITH A 71
In just his second start of the year Brad Faxon fired a 1-under 71 in the first round. With four birdies and three bogeys, Faxon was able to position himself in a tie for 27th. Faxon's first event back following several surgeries -- he had season-ending foot surgery in 2007 plus his third ACL surgery on his right knee and a microfracture surgery in 2008 -- was the Turning Stone Resort Championship, where he missed the cut.
He had swelling in the knee after that event, but doctors cleared him to play the Ginn sur Mer Classic. No matter how he finishes at the season's penultimate event, though, Faxon is ready for 2009.
"My season is a wash anyway," Faxon said last week. "I just want to make sure that when January gets here, I'm ready to play. It would be a hard winter if I can't play, especially not having played the last year."
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