The Daily Wrap-up, Round 1: JT Shriners Hospitals

text size

Oct. 15, 2009

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Champions Tour winner Tom Pernice Jr. shot a bogey-free 9-under 62 on Thursday for a share of the first-round lead with Troy Matteson and Spencer Levin in the PGA TOUR's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Leaderboard: Rd. 1 Scores

Tee times: Round 2
Live Report: Round 1
Scorecard: Tom Pernice Jr.
Scorecard: Troy Matteson
Gallery: Round 1 photos

Kodak Challenge

This week's results from the 16th
Current Kodak standings
Learn more about the holes
Complete Kodak coverage

The 50-year-old Pernice, a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR who won the SAS Championship on Sept. 27 in his Champions Tour debut, birdied his final two holes -- Nos. 8 and 9 -- at TPC Summerlin to match the best round of his career.

"I got off to a really good start, which was nice, and continued to have a really good round," Pernice said. "Good, quality iron shots first really set it up. The iron shots really were the key. And the conditions are obviously perfect here."

Levin had an eagle and seven birdies in his bogey-free round, and Matteson, the 2006 winner, had 10 birdies and a bogey -- on No. 17.

"When you've had nine birdies to that point, it's a little easier when you make a mistake," Matteson said. "When you have two birdies and you make a mistake, especially with the scores being as low as they are, that's frustrating."

Bob Heintz and Martin Laird were a stroke back.

"On the back nine, every time I hit a really good iron shot I was kicking it in," Heintz said. "It doesn't always happen that way. It was pleasant."

Three-time Las Vegas winner Jim Furyk, coming off the United States' victory in the Presidents Cup last weekend in San Francisco, matched Las Vegas native Scott Piercy at 64. Furyk bogeyed his first two holes in the Fall Series event.

"It was a slow start, but I don't know if it was a rough start," Furyk said. "You just have to stay patient. A lot of it is your mental frame. I was 1-under par after eight holes today. I really got it going, making a nice birdie on 18. I then hit it close on one, two, three and four and was able to birdie those holes."

Piercy was playing while wife Sara was expected to go into labor "any minute."

"I got two great breaks today," he said. "I hit in the rocks on three and hit in the rocks on six and I made pars, and almost made birdies, on both of them."

Tim Petrovic, Kirk Triplett, Briny Baird, Robert Garrigus and Jeff Klauk shot 65s.

Rickie Fowler, the 2008 college player of the year as a freshman at Oklahoma State, opened with a 67 in his first PGA TOUR start as a professional. As an amateur this year, he tied for 58th in the FBR Open and missed the cuts at the U.S. Open and Travelers. He also lost a playoff in the Nationwide Tour's Columbus, Ohio, event.

Hunter Mahan had a 70, and U.S. Presidents Cup teammate Anthony Kim shot a 72.

Bubble Watch

Player	Money List Pos.	Score	Position	Comment	Friday's tee time (PT)
Bill Lunde	No. 126	3 under	T38	Lunde's 68 was his best score in 13 rounds, dating to the Buick Open in August.	7:19 a.m.
Todd Hamilton	No. 127	4 over	T126	The former British Open champion was undone by double bogeys on Nos. 11 and 18.	7:57 a.m.
Chris Riley	No. 128	2 over	T112	Trouble off the tee hurt Riley's first round. He hit just six of 14 fairways.	11:30 a.m.
Chris Stroud	No. 129	2 under	T52	His only hiccup was a double bogey at the par-4 second hole among six birdies.	12:55 p.m.
Stuart Appleby	No. 130	1 under	T70	The Aussie could have taken more advantage from hitting 86 percent of the fairways and averaging 313 yards off the tee.	12:36 p.m.

Thursday's best

EASIEST HOLE	TOUGHEST HOLE
The par-5 16th hole was the easiest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.417. EAGLES: 6 BIRDIES: 78 PARS: 37 BOGEYS: 9 OTHERS: 2	The par-3 17th hole was the toughest with a Thursday scoring average of 3.258. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 19 PARS: 75 BOGEYS: 25 OTHERS: 13

INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent Mark Carnevale offers these observations from Thursday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.

Fred Albers and I were having dinner last night when Jay Williamson walked in to Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que. I asked him if he wanted to join us, but he declined, saying he needed to catch up on some emails. Now Jay was not in the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, he was the first alternate. This morning Trevor Immelman withdrew, and Jay got into the event. Jay is 183rd on the money list and needs a good finish to the year. Well what a start he had. Jay shot a 5-under 31 on his front nine (the back nine at TPC Summerlin). Hopefully this will lead to a good tournament for Jay.

I would say the biggest story of the day for Thursday was the weather. The conditions for scoring were perfect, with over half the field shooting under par. This was a welcome surprise as the weather for the last two days was cooler and windy, which made practicing difficult. Much more of the same is predicted for Friday. .

Live Essentials