First round: Weir basks in the glow of a first-round 61
NORTON, Mass. (AP) -- Mike Weir shaved his "playoff beard" when his wife and children flew into town this week, but that had no bearing on his golf Friday. This was a round to enjoy, not explain.
Determined to get off to a better start, Weir birdied the first four holes and one-putted his final nine greens in the Deutsche Bank Championship to tie the course record at TPC Boston with a 10-under 61, the lowest round of his PGA TOUR career.
Weir had a three-shot lead over a group of four players that included Vijay Singh, whose victory last week at The Barclays put him atop the standings in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.
Singh previously had the TPC Boston course record to himself, a 61 in the third round two years ago. And the Fijian set the tone for a day of low scores when he ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch for a 64.
It took Weir only 10 holes to catch him.
"There was no indication on the putting green when I was warming up that was going to tell me it was going to be like that," Weir said. "It just felt normal. Just one of those days where I made about a 15-footer on the first hole, another on the second hole. ... I just kind of built on that momentum.
"I just tried to keep the pedal down, because I knew the scores were pretty low."
John Merrick, Heath Slocum and Briny Baird joined Singh at 64, while Ben Curtis, Ernie Els and Jim Furyk were in a large group another stroke back. More than half of the 115-man field shot in the 60s, and only 23 players failed to break par.
Even so, Weir never saw a 61 coming.
In his 20 previous stroke-play events this year, he had shot in the 60s only one time, at the RBC Canadian Open.
"It's been kind of my goal the last month or so to get off to better starts in tournaments," he said. "It seems like I've been having to come from behind. I've just put it in mind to try to get off to a better start. Obviously, this was way exceeding my expectations."
Only three of his birdie putts were inside 10 feet, including a 5-footer on the 18th that gave him his career low on TOUR, one shot better than a 62 in the first round at Doral seven years ago.
The only noticeable difference was a clean-shaven face.
Weir had been on vacation when he grew a light beard, and he kept it for the first round of the playoffs last week at The Barclays, where he tied for seventh. He also stars in a PGA TOUR commercial with Wayne Gretzky, who urges Weir to grow a playoff beard as if these were the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But when his wife and daughters (ages 10 and 8) arrived on Tuesday and his girls wouldn't kiss him, Weir gave each daughter a razor and let them start stripping away the beard.
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| Friday's Best |
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The par-5, 528-yard 18th was the easiest with a Friday scoring average of 4.426.
The par-3, 213-yard 8th was toughest with a Friday scoring average of 3.139.
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D.J. Trahan earned shot-of-the-day honors for his outstanding chip-in for eagle on the 298-yard, par-4 fourth hole on his way to a 4-under 67 in the first round. 
Mike Weir was flirting with history in the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship where he carded a bogey-free 10-under 61 and snatched the lead. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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WITH RYDER CUP IN MIND, CURTIS HEATING UP PLAYOFFS
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
| 61 | As in 10 under, or, Mike Weir's score in the first round. That tied Vijay Singh's course record set in 2006. |
| 6 | The number of birdies made by Weir over his first nine holes. |
| 3 | The number of top-10 finishes by Ben Curtis in his last four starts. After the first round, he is inside the top 10 at TPC Boston. |
NORTON, Mass. -- Ben Curtis hasn't exactly had a lot of success in the Deutsche Bank Championship. Until Friday, that is.
Curtis had only broken par once in six rounds at TPC Boston, and he had never made the cut. After that first-round 65, though, the soft-spoken man from Ohio was not just in position to extend his stay -- he was one stroke off the lead held by Vijay Singh.
"I think my goal was just to make the cut because I've had great success here in the past," Curtis said wryly, his tongue firmly in cheek. "So I figured if I make the cut, it'll be a win for me here this week."
Curtis, though, enters the second event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup playing as well as just about anyone in the elite field of 120. He's had top-10s in three of his last four starts -- including a tie for seventh at the Open Championship and a share of second at the PGA Championship.
And Curtis has prospered even though his preparation has occasionally left something to be desired.
"It's so funny, the last three tournaments now, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday I can't find the face or the putting stroke, and it seems to work its way into play on Thursday," Curtis said. "That's good to see, just knowing that even though you don't feel 100 percent confident with your swing and putting, it seems to work. That means I can still improve and get better."
To read the remainder of this story, click here.
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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
XM Radio announcer Brian Katrek offers these observations from Friday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
There is an interesting vibe in the air here at TPC Boston this week. For the first time in a long time, some of these guys don't know their travel plans. It is taking some of them back to earlier in their careers, when they had various states of exemption. Guys don't know whether they will advance to next week or not. Throw in the off week and the Ryder Cup, and even those who will make it to THE TOUR Championship aren't completely sure where to go and what to do with the time in between. The travel office is surely getting a workout...
This golf course was over 7,400 yards when the first Deutsche Bank Championship was held here in 2003. The course is actually 200 yards shorter now -- a refreshing trend that I think will continue in the next few years with the change in club groove regulations...
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STATS AND FACTS: AUG. 29, 2008
Compiled by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.
• Mike Weir began the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship with a flurry, birdieing the first four holes he played. This is the second time in Weir's PGA TOUR career that he has begun a tournament with four straight birdies. The last time was at the 2002 Mercedes Championship. Weir continued his birdieing ways with two more on Nos. 6 and 7. Those six birdies tied the highest number of birdies over a seven-hole stretch in Weir's PGA TOUR career. The last time he had six birdies over seven holes was in the third round of the 2006 PGA Championship.
• Vijay Singh shot a seven-under 64 today in the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. Singh is coming off a playoff victory at The Barclays last week. Today's 7-under par is the second-lowest score in relation to par in Singh's PGA TOUR career in the opening round of the week following one of his TOUR victories. Singh posted an 8-under 64 in the first round of the 2004 84 LUMBER Classic, the week after his victory at the Bell Canadian Open
• During today's opening round of the Deutsche Bank Championship, Weir needed only 21 putts to navigate the TPC Boston course. Those 21 putts are a career low in a round on the PGA TOUR for Weir and tie the fewest putts in a round at the tournament. Weir did not record a single hole-out from off the green during his round today. He's the second player in the history of the Deutsche Bank Championship to need only 21 putts without recording a hole-out from off the green. Weir joins Rich Beem during the opening round last year. Weir is the fifth player on TOUR this year to need 21 putts or fewer in a round and not record a single hole-out from off the green.
• Singh stands in second place after the opening round of The Deutsche Bank Championship today. Singh, who has recorded 33 wins on the PGA TOUR, has never stood this high after the opening round of a TOUR event the week following a victory. Singh's previous high was a third-place showing after the opening round of the 2005 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which was the week following his victory at the Shell Houston Open.
THINGS TO WATCH ON SATURDAY
1. How will Mike Weir follow up his sensational opening round? It's very difficult to follow up one outstanding round with another -- especially when the first one was a 10-under 61. Can Weir keep it going? He lost the playoff beard this week, but it certainly hasn't had a negative impact on his play.
2. Look out for more low scores. The weather at TPC Boston is about as perfect as perfect can be with temperatures topping out just under 80 degrees and not a whole lot of humidity in the air. It's expected to stay that way on Saturday, which means the course could be susceptible to more low rounds.
3. What will George McNeill do? Silly question? Not really. McNeill started the week No. 70 in the FedExCup standings, which means he's the bubble man for the BMW Championship. He shot an even-par 71 in the first round, and, with scores as low as they are, he'll need to go low on Saturday to stay there.
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