Round 1 notebook: Sony Open
By Mark Williams, PGA TOUR Staff
HONOLULU -- Tom Gillis was the only player in the field who did not complete the first round. Gillis, at 2 over for the round, will return at 8:30 a.m. local time to face a 27 foot, 8 inch putt for eagle at his final hole, the par-5 9th.
• Six players share the first-round lead at the 2010 Sony Open in Hawaii after shooting 5-under 65s -- Ryan Palmer, Zach Johnson, Davis Love III, Troy Merritt, Robert Allenby and John Merrick. Ten players are tied for seventh at 4 under.
• Six players sharing the lead after the first round of a PGA TOUR event is the most since the 2008 RBC Canadian Open when seven players shared the lead. The last time six players were tied for the lead after any round was the third round of the 2009 Shell Houston Open.
• This represents the 21st time Love has held at least a share of the 18-hole lead. Love has converted just three of those previous leads into victories, most recently the 1997 PGA Championship. Love also won the 1991 and 1992 Verizon Heritage Golf Classics after leading/co-leading through 18 holes.
• Entering his 12th full season on TOUR, Allenby has four career victories and 58 career top-10s. Allenby's last TOUR win was the 2001 Marconi Pennsylvania Classic, however, he did win twice last month in back-to-back weeks -- at the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa and the Australian PGA Championship -- to bring his number of international victories to 18.
• Allenby has not finished outside the top 10 when leading a TOUR event after the first round.
• Allenby is playing with an injured right ankle after twisting it in a fall outside the clubhouse on Monday this week. Allenby has iced and strapped the ankle several times each day since.
• Johnson made an excellent start to his first defense of a title in 2010, opening with a 5-under 65, including a 4-under 31 on the back nine. Johnson will also defend the Valero Texas Open in May. He finished 18th at last week's SBS Championship.
• Making his 11th start at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Love III posted his lowest first-round score here with a 5-under 65. Love's previous-best opening round at Waialae CC was 68 in 1994. Love had not broken 70 in the first round in his previous six starts here.
• Love shot a course and tournament record 60 in round two of the 1994 Sony Open in Hawaii and finished second that year. He also finished T2 in 1999, one of five top-10 finishes he has recorded at Waialae CC.
• Love and Johnson also played together in the first two rounds of the 2009 Sony Open. Love shot 72-70 to miss the cut while Johnson posted 69-65 and went on to win.
• Palmer recorded 10 one-putts, for a total of 25 putts, along with a chip-in from just off the green at No. 15 in his opening round of 5-under 65.
• Palmer's previous best opening round in four starts at the Sony Open in Hawaii was 67 in 2007, the last time he contested this event.
Palmer, who finished No. 134 on the 2009 money list, is a two-time winner on TOUR -- 2004 FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort, 2008 Ginn sur Mer Classic.
• Merritt is one of four players making his first career start in a TOUR event (Blake Adams, Brian Stuard and Jerod Turner). Merritt, who posted a 5-under 65 is one of 16 TOUR rookies teeing it up this week.
• Merritt, a Boise State University graduate, was medalist at the 2009 PGA TOUR National Qualifying Tournament at Bear Lakes in December with rounds of 67-69-68-67-70-69 410 (22 under).
• Merrick, who represented the United States with Nick Watney at the 2009 Omega World Cup, is searching for his first TOUR win after a career-best season last year when he finished No. 58 on the money list and ranked 75th on the FedExCup standings.
• Martin Flores (66), a Dallas native, earned his 2010 TOUR card by finishing fourth at the 2009 Qualifying Tournament. His only previous TOUR appearance was at the 2006 EDS Byron Nelson Championship, where he shot 77-67 to miss the cut. He spent 2009 on the Nationwide Tour, making four cuts in nine starts and posting a career-best T13 at the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic.
• Here is a look at the scores for the 16 rookies in the field this week: Adams (69), Chris Baryla (70), Graham DeLaet (69), Flores (66), Rickie Fowler (75), Billy Horschel (76), Derek Lamely (73), Garth Mulroy (75), Cameron Percy (72), Alex Prugh (74), Stuard (66), Josh Teater (71), Cameron Tringale (71), Jerod Turner (71) and Chris Wilson (71).
• Steve Stricker (66) was 2 over after four holes in the first round before closing with four consecutive birdies. Last week at the SBS Championship Stricker got off to a slow start with an opening 73 and was T24 before 68-66 on the weekend earned a top-10 finish.
• Carl Pettersson (66), who finished No. 154 on the 2009 money list, made seven birdies in round one. Pettersson won the 2008 Wyndham Championship, his most recent of three TOUR victories.
• Love was the only co-leader to post a bogey-free round. Jeff Quinney, Tom Lehman, Stuard, Roger Tambellini and Flores, all within a stroke of the lead, also posted bogey-free rounds.
• All four major championship winners are in the field, marking the first time since 1978 and only the third in tournament history, that the four previous year's major winners are represented at the Sony Open. Here's a look at their first-round scores: Angel Cabrera (66), Stewart Cink (68), Y.E. Yang (70) and Lucas Glover (75).
• Cabrera had a torrid six-hole stretch in the middle of his first round posting birdie, birdie, eagle, par, double bogey, birdie on holes 16, 17, 18, 1, 2 and 3.
• Eight of the last 11 players to win the Sony Open played the week before at the SBS Championship.
• Spencer Levin (69/T32) is the best of the four Monday qualifiers after the first round -- Aaron Goldberg (70/T46), Jim Carter (71/T62) and Nick Mason (71/T62).
• Parker McLachlin has extended his "Birdies for Juniors" program into a second year with the help of Waikaloa Beach Resort. The Honolulu native shot 72 in Thursday's first round, posting three birdies. McLachlin will donate $50 to the Hawaii State Junior Golf Association for each birdie he makes during his five starts on the "West Coast Swing." Waikaloa Beach Resort will match his pledge. Last year, McLachlin's donations totaled $6,800.
• It has been reported incorrectly by several publications that Billy Mayfair is taking a one-time, top-50 all-time money-winner exemption for 2010. Mayfair took that exemption in 2005 and is playing the 2010 season out of the Past Champion category.
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