South Africa's Garth Mulroy leads Cox Classic

text size

Badz/Getty Images

Garth Mulroy leads by one stroke after shooting an opening-round 61 Thursday.

Jul. 23, 2009
By Joe Chemycz, PGA TOUR Staff

Omaha, Neb. -- Garth Mulroy admitted that he thought about shooting a 59 during the opening round of the Nationwide Tour's Cox Classic, but a couple of missed birdie putts late in the day kept him from matching golf's magical number. Instead, the South Africa native had to settle for a 10-under 61 and a one-stroke lead after the opening round in the $725,000 event at Champions Run, a layout that features three reachable par-5s and a pair of potentially driveable par-4s.

Mulroy put together a bogey-free round in the afternoon heat, highlighted by a pair of eagles and a total of nine 3s on his scorecard. Just before he stepped up to a six-foot eagle putt on his 15th hole, he had thoughts of 59 dancing in his head.

"I thought if I made that putt I might have a chance to break 60," he said. Mulroy canned the putt but was done in by a pair of wayward tee shots on the next two holes. He wound up missing birdie putts of 20 and 25 feet to sink his hopes of 59 but got back on track with a birdie on the final hole of the day to assume the lead over Every, who closed with four birdies and an eagle on his last six holes.

"I was pretty relaxed all day," said Mulroy, who won earlier this year at the South Georgia Classic. "I think you just get like that when you're playing well. Everything seems like it comes pretty easily."

Things have been a lot easier for Mulroy in 2009. He's made the cut in 10 of 12 starts, is No. 4 on the money list and is coming off a T4 finish at the recent Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic.

"I was looking forward to these two weeks, especially after playing well in Canada," said Mulroy. "This week and next week in Columbus, where I played well last year, are big weeks. I was thinking in the back of my mind that I can probably wrap up my (2010 PGA TOUR) card in the next two weeks."

Every, like Mulroy, missed only one green in regulation.

"This is the kind of golf course where if you're hitting it good you're going to have eight to ten realistic birdie chances," he said. "It's only the first day and it's a long tournament. The scores are always low but 40-under is not going to win this tournament."

It only seems that way. The Champions Run course is one of the Tour's annual birdie fests and the average winning score over the first 13 years is a whopping 21.6 strokes under par.

"Every year, it doesn't seem to amaze me. A lot of people seem to shoot low," said Monday qualifier Brent Delahoussaye, one of six players in at 7-under 64. "Any given week, no matter how hard the course is, someone is going to play well."

Most of the field played well on day one. A total of 104 players in the field of 156 broke par and 121 were at par-or-better. The scoring average for the par-71 layout was 69.402.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First-Round Notes:

• The feature pairing of the day had leading money winner Michael Sim (66) and No. 2 money winner Kevin Johnson (69) in the same threesome with Chris Nallen (67).

• Sponsor exemption Tadd Fujikawa posted a 7-under 64 and is tied for 4th after the opening round. The 18-year old from Hawaii, who recently graduated from high school, turned professional at the age of 16.

• The 315-yard, par-4, 9thhole, which was the easiest par-4 on the Nationwide Tour last year, played to a scoring average of 3.636. The hole was the easiest par-4 of the day and yielded a total of four eagles.

• Players who were bogey-free in the opening round: 61 -- Mulroy; 62 -- Every; 63 -- J.J.Killeen; 64 -- Brian Smock, Dave Schultz; 65 -- Justin Bolli; 66 -- Steve LeBrun, Zack Miller, Chad Collins, John Riegger; 67 -- Chris Nallen, Jason Knutzon

• Willie Wood (75) and Tripp Isenhour (74) withdrew after the first round.