The Live Report, Round 1: The Honda Classic
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
ALLENBY ON THE MEND (6:30 p.m.): His mother having passed away recently, first-round leader Robert Allenby needed time to recover and it appears he has. He lives close to PGA National and has found comfort in several friends and family members. Here's a snippet from Allenby's interview today, talking about it.
Q: You were playing Down Under and your mom was on the golf course and you had I guess a hard time keeping your composure there for a while. It must have been an amazing experience for you, nice to have her there and get to see you play one more time, but I guess it must have been awful hard for you to take a club back and hit a ball in a forward direction.
ALLENBY: Yeah, it was tough. I knew that it would be the last tournament and last shot that really she would ever see me hit. I stood up on the tee on 15, the par 3, and I just glanced over and I could see the golf course coming, because I knew she was coming around the 15th, 16th tee. I just sort of glanced over and I could see her coming down with my brother-in-law driving the golf cart, and I sort of just lost it.
Q. Did she say something to you at any point along the way during all this?
ALLENBY: Obviously I had tears in my eyes and stuff and just had so many thoughts going through my head and losing my composure very, very quickly. I hit great shots on the last three holes. I had three chances for birdie on last three holes, but the putts didn't go in. As it was, I needed two birdies to get back to the lead, and I didn't make the putts. My mom was there, and I walked off on the 16th tee, and she just said: 'Look, it doesn't matter. There's more important things in life than winning tournaments.'
FROM THE INTERVIEW ROOM (6:15 p.m.): With the first round of The Honda Classic complete with Robert Allenby holding a one-shot lead at 4 under, here are some snippets from the interview room, starting with Stewart Cink.
Q. Is that a veteranship thing when you can get the job done with less than your best stuff? It seems like a lot of the young guys really have a time -- anybody can play when they are on it, I guess.
CINK: It's all about managing your game. On a difficult course like this one, no one is going to be perfect. Guys are not going to be hitting all the fairways, 18 greens, you're not reaching the par 5s; well, at least the last hole you're not reaching. It's the kind of course where you are going to be thrown some curves, and you need to adapt and roll with the punches, so to speak, and that's what I was able to do today out there. I made birdies when I had opportunities, and then when I hit it crooked, I was fortunate a few times where I had a shot from the rough or from the trees. But also, I hit my shots up on the green and 2-putted from long range, or I made a good up-and-down here and there.
Q. So how different is your outlook now after last week's performance than it was at the beginning of this year?
STEWART CINK: The big difference is, match play offers up a lot of crucial moments where you have putts that you have to make to keep the match going or to tie holes. When you pull those off at the right time, it just loads you up with confidence. And I did a lot of those last week, minus the Geoff Ogilvy match, where he steamrolled me. Who wasn't he steamrolling, though? I drew upon a lot of those good moments last week.
And this from Jeff Overton, who survived an emergency appendectomy and the top 125 on the money list last year.
Q. A lot of high scores; how did you feel is it out there?
OVERTON: It's playing tough. You really have to keep the ball low and you really have to keep the ball in the fairway on a few key holes and keep the ball out of the water on a few of those par 3s. Like on 15, I just said, just hit it short left and got it up-and-down. Luckily enough for that pin, you could do that. I'm sure one of the next few days it will be back there in the back left, which you can't really do it then. Playing into the wind, those par 3s, you're hitting 5-irons. No. 15 was dead in the wind, a little off the right and same thing with 17. I think I was in between 6-iron and 5-iron on 16. And 17, I hit a 5-iron, which is really not great, not much room to miss it. If you hit it short right, either one of those shots, you're in the water. It's easy to do when you're hitting it in the wind like that.
MAKE THAT 4 (5:53 p.m.): It turns out that 4 under was the number after all for Robert Allenby. The Aussie just tapped in for birdie on No. 9 to complete a round of 4-under 66, which is good enough for a one-shot lead. -- Brian Wacker
3 IS THE NUMBER (5:45 p.m.): Robert Allenby's 4 under turned out to be pretty short-lived, thanks to a bogey by the Aussie on No. 8 (he started on the back nine).
This is just Allenby's third PGA TOUR event of the year after having to deal with the passing away of his mother, which has been extremely tough on the Australian. -- Brian Wacker
LEADERBOARD CHECK (5:22 p.m.): Robert Allenby just birdied to move to 4 under on the day, but the 3 under 67 posted by four players -- including Stewart Cink and Angel Cabrera -- is holding up pretty good as first-round play continues.
Don't expect a lot of low numbers today or any day this week, especially as the day wears on and especially on the back nine. Since this previously somewhat nomadic tournament moved to PGA National two years ago, the winning score has been 5 and 6 under each of those years. -- Brian Wacker
DUVAL ALSO STRUGGLES (4:45 p.m.): Ken Werner of Virginia just emailed in:
"Big Duval fan. Really thought he turned the corner with two made cuts in a row before his break last week. Today was a disaster. Can you give me some explanation for his round today that will ease the pain?"
Not sure there's anything that will ease your pain, Ken, because Duval had his share of struiggles in shooting a 12-over 82 that included a 43 on the back. Duval did have four pars on the final nine at PGA National -- including one on the difficult 16th -- but he closed with a triple bogey and a double bogey and has the day's second-highest score behing Mathias Gronberg's 89. -- Brian Wacker
ANOTHER 17 DOING DAMAGE (4:32 p.m.): The 17th at TPC Sawgrass may be arguably the most famous par-3 or famous 17th hole in all of golf, but No. 17 at PGA National is doing plenty of damage so far today.
The last hole of the Bear Trap, the treacherous 190-yard par-3 over water, has claimed 18 balls so far. The three holes that make up the Bear Trap, meanwhile, have combined to see 45 balls find a watery grave. That's an awful lot considering 118 found the water in all four rounds of last year's tournament.
As for 17 at Sawgrass last year, it claimed 64 balls during THE PLAYERS Championship. -- Brian Wacker
BOGEY-FREE (4:18 p.m.): Angel Cabrera is the only player so far today to have a bogey-free round. As a result, the former U.S. Open champion is among the early clubhouse leaders at 3 under.
Not bad considering he hit just 50 percent of his greens in regulation and 36 percent of his fairways. Cabrera had the short game working, however, getting up-and-down a lot on his way to just 23 putts. -- Brian Wacker
Here's a look at Cabrera's scorecard from today:
TOUGH TRACK (4:05 p.m.): How tough is PGA National playing right now? Consider that only 29 players are under par at the moment and the leader, Sergio Garcia, is just 4 under -- with the famed Bear Trap still to come.
If anyone's going to make some hay here this week, it should be on the front nine, which is considerably easier than the back -- except for the sixth hole, which is playing as the most difficult on the course.
On the other hand, the two easiest holes on the course -- Nos. 1 and 3 -- come early. And No. 2 currently ranks as the 14th toughest hole on the course with No. 4 ranking 13th. -- Brian Wacker
PGA TOUR DRIVEN (3:45 p.m. ET): The Nationwide Tour has plenty to brag about right now, since three of its graduates from the class of 2008 are in the top 10 at The Honda Classic.
David Mathis, Scott Piercy and Bill Lunde all advanced to the PGA TOUR this season based on their 2008 Nationwide Tour performance. Mathis is in the clubhouse and tied for seventh after an opening-round 68.
Lunde and Piercy are still on the course but are going low in the first round. Lunde has made two birdies in his first seven holes and sits tied for seventh, while Piercy is 3 under through eight holes and tied for second.
Other Nationwide Tour alums currently in the top 10 on the leaderboard include Charlie Wi (T2), Jeff Overton (T2), Stewart Cink (T2), Kent Jones (T7) and Steve Marino (T7). -- Lauren Deason
SERGIO TAKES THE LEAD (3:25 p.m. ET): Garcia, the highest ranked player in the field based on the Official World Golf Ranking, is now the top player on the leaderboard as well.
He birdied Nos. 8 and 9 to finish at 4 under for his first nine holes. The Spaniard is one stroke ahead of a crowded group at 3 under.
Garcia captured his last PGA TOUR title in Florida when he beat Paul Goydos in a playoff at THE PLAYERS Championship in 2008. -- Lauren Deason
SLOW START FOR TWO FAVORITES (2:56 p.m. ET): This was not the start Ernie Els and Camilo Villegas had in mind.
Els, the winner here last year, and Villegas, who lives nearby, both opened with 3-over 73s in the first round. The scores put both in danger of missing the cut unless they can put up a low number tomorrow.
Both Els and Villegas managed just two birdies apiece, and Villegas, who teed off on the back nine, killed his chances at a low round by playing the 16th, 17th and 18th holes in three over. - Ryan Smithson
TADD HITS THE COURSE (2:30 p.m. ET): With all the talk about Rory McIlroy, its easy to forget that he's not the only teenager in the field this week.
Tadd Fujikawa is here this week on a sponsor's exemption. It is Fujikawa's first start since his tie for 32nd in the Sony Open in Hawaii, where he shot 62 in the third round.
Tadd started his round at PGA National on the tougher back nine, but he was already 1 under through four holes. Of course, we'll see where he sits after navigating through The Bear Trap.
Get used to hearing a lot about The Bear Trap. None of the holes are among the toughest on TOUR, but all three -- coupled back-to-back-to-back -- can wear down the most experienced of players. -- Ryan Smithson
IRISH EYES SMILING (2:03 p.m.): Rory McIlroy drew extremely high praise from his fellow TOUR pros last week -- most notably Geoff Ogilvy, who said McIlroy will be No. 2 in the world possibly as soon as next year.
So far, the 19-year-old wide-eyed, bushy-haired teen hasn't disappointed. He won in Dubai, reached the quarterfinals last week and is 2 under through his first three holes today.
Like Sergio Garcia before him, McIlroy birdied Nos. 1 and 3. As a result, he's just one off the early pace being set by Stewart Cink and three others. -- Brian Wacker
MORNING MOVERS (1:53 p.m.): The first round is well under way at The Honda Classic, where Ernie Els is looking to defend his title. PGA National is, of course, playing tough.
For early-round video highlights of Els, Davis Love III, Chris DiMarco and others, click here 
.
SERGIO SURGES (1:40 p.m.): Sergio Garcia is off to a fast start with birdies on two of his first three holes today.
Garcia hit his approach to 3 feet on the par-4 first and sank the putt for birdie before adding another on the par-5 third, where he rolled in a 26-footer after pitching out of a greenside bunker.
This is just the second start of the year on the PGA TOUR for Garcia, who got bounced out of the first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship last week by Ross Fisher. -- Brian Wacker
TOUGHEST HOLES ON TOUR (1:23 p.m.): With all the talk about the Bear Trap -- and the rest of the back nine at PGA National -- and how difficult it plays, consider that No. 6 actually played as the 11th toughest hole on the PGA TOUR in 2008. Meanwhile, the 15th, was 39th on TOUR last year.
By comparison, Royal Birkdale, site of last year's British Open, had seven of the 50 toughest holes on TOUR, including No. 1 on the list -- the par-4 sixth. -- Brian Wacker
Here's a look at the 10 toughest holes from 2008:
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BEAR TRAP CHECK (1:10 p.m.): As usual, the Bear Trap here at the Honda Classic continues to play as the hardest stretch of holes on the golf course.
The 190-yard-yard, par-3 17th is playing as the toughest hole with a scoring average of 3.476 with just one birdie so far. The 179-yard, par-3 15th ranks second with a scoring average of 3.467 and just two birdies. The par-4 16th is currently fourth with an average of 4.348. -- Brian Wacker
GRONBERG STRUGGLING (12:30 p.m.): Sweden's Mathias Gronberg has never won on the PGA TOUR -- his best finish was a T3 at the 2007 Valero Texas Open -- and that's probably not going to change this week.
Gronberg posted four bogeys on the front nine, including three in a row on holes 7-9, on his way to a front-side 39. Things only got worse on the back, where he shot a 50.
Here's the blow-by-blow of how it went down:
Gronberg rinsed his approach shot on No. 11, where he made double bogey. He followed with a bogey on No. 12 after pulling his tee shot into the right rough, forcing him to pitch out back into the fairway. On the 13th, Gronberg again found the water, this time off the tee, en route to making a triple-bogey 7. Gronberg added another triple bogey on the 14th when he pulled his tee shot out of bounds to the left.
On the par-3 15th, the first hole of the famed Bear Trap, Gronberg found the back bunker before making a bogey. At the 16th, Gronberg found the water on his approach and eventually made his third triple bogey of the day. He found the water again on the par-3 17th, where he made a double bogey before closing out with a par on the par-5 18th for a 19-over 89. -- Brian Wacker
DEVILISH SIXTH (12:03 p.m.): The Bear Trap -- holes 15, 16 and 17 -- might be arguably the toughest stretch of holes on the entire PGA TOUR, but the the brutal par-4 sixth hole has already have a couple of victims.
Charlie Wi had birdied five consecutive holes to move into the lead, but the South Korean double-bogeyed the 479-yard sixth after hooking his tee shot into the water. John Rollins met the same fate. He shared the lead with Stewart Cink at 4 under until he too hooked his tee shot into the water for a double bogey.
The sixth hole is tough for many reasons. It used to be a par-5, but the Jack Nicklaus redesign in 2001 changed it to a long par-4. There is water all down the left side and deep fairway bunkers prevent a bailout on the right. The triangular green also has bunkers on both sides. -- Ryan Smithson
EARLY LEADERS (11:45 a.m.): An early check of the action here at the Honda Classic has a familiar name from last week atop the leaderboard in Stewart Cink.
It looks like he is riding the momentum of chipping in on the 18th last week to win his consolation match against Ross Fisher. Through 12 holes today, Cink is 4 under and alone in the lead after Charlie Wie and John Rollins each bogeyed the par-4 sixth to drop a shot.
Last year, Cink finished second in his first start after the Accenture Match Play Championship (the PODS Championship). This also marks the second straight year in which Cink has played somewhere other than Miami or Orlando in his first start following the Accenture Match Play Championship. Prior to 2008, he made Doral or Bay Hill his first stop following the tournament. Judging by last year's result and his fast start this year, that seems to be a strategy that's paying off. -- Brian Wacker
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