Corey Pavin opened with a 4-under 66 and sits only one-stroke back of the leaders. He has recorded five top-10 finishes at the Buick Championship out of 13 career starts. Last year he finished eighth and in 2004 he tied for sixth. Pavin is making his 241st start since winning the 1996 MasterCard Colonial, his last PGA TOUR victory. • A closer look at the four players tied for the first round lead at the Buick Championship:
• This is the seventh time in his career that Harrison
Frazar has held a first-round lead. He has never won on the PGA TOUR. He
is making his 232nd career start on TOUR. The other times were:
• This is the third time in his career that Peter Lonard
has held a first-round lead. The last time he held a first-round lead he
went on to win for the first time in his career on the PGA TOUR. The
other times were:
• This is the second time in his career that Heath Slocum
has held a first-round lead. Slocum, who has won twice on the TOUR, is
looking to win for the third consecutive season -- 2004 Chrysler Classic
of Tucson and 2005 Southern Farm Bureau Classic. The other time was:
• This is the ninth time that tour veteran Scott Verplank
has held a first round lead. The first two times after holding the
first-round lead Verplank went on to win. In his last six first-round
leads his best finish was second. The last time he held a first-round
lead came at the 2004 FBR Open. The other times were: • Scott Verpank is making eighth start in the Buick Championship, but his first since the 2002 event. He finished fourth in 2002 and in 2001 he fired a 9-under 61 in the third round and shares the TPC River Highlands course record with Brad Faxon, Kirk Triplett and Phil Mickelson. • Nick O'Hern opened the tournament with a 3-under 67 (tied for 11th). O’Hern hasn't played much on the PGA TOUR this year, but the 34-year-old left-hander from Perth, Australia has finished in the top 25 in five of the eight tournaments he has played this year. His best finish came last week at the Booz Allen Classic where he tied for second place. O'Hern's impressive performance at the Booz Allen Classic followed his best showing at a major. O'Hern finished in a tie for sixth at the U.S. Open, his first top-10 finish at a major in 10 starts. These back-to-back accomplishments moved him into 23rd place in the Official World Golf Ranking, making him one of five Australians ranked in the top 25.. • Camilo Villegas posted a 4-under 66 and is only one-stroke back of the leaders. Fresh off his selection as one of People Magazine's "Hottest Bachelors," PGA TOUR rookie Villegas is featured in the July issue of GQ, which hit newsstands on Tuesday, June 27th. Says GQ, "He's got a closet full of tight trousers, a set of boxer's biceps, and more screaming female fans than Justin Timberlake." Asked about Camilo representing the new face of the TOUR, Commissioner Tim Finchem told the magazine, "Golf needs to look more like the rest of the country and the rest of the world and it's heading in that direction." The photos in the two-page spread were taken by photographer Mark Seliger at Doral Golf Resort & Spa in April. The 24-year-old Colombian currently ranks 26th on the Official Money list with four top-25 and three top-10 finishes in 17 tournaments this year. • The TPC River Highlands is the seventh of 11 TPC courses the PGA TOUR will use as tournament courses for official TOUR events in 2006. • This is the final year of Buick’s sponsorship. Beginning in 2007, the event will be re-named the Travelers Championship and, as part of the FedEx Cup season, will be played June 18-24 at the TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn. • Below is a list of the 12 players who qualified for the British Open Championship from the qualifier that was to be held at Congressional Golf Club but was cancelled due to weather. They include: Tom Pernice Jr, Brett Wetterich, Vaughan Taylor, Lee Westwood, Greg Owen, Bo Van Pelt, J.B. Holmes, Jerry Kelly, Ted Purdy, Steve Elkington, Jeff Maggert and Aaron Baddeley
• Here’s how the nine former champions fared in the opening
round: • There were seven bogey-free rounds on Thursday. Posting a bogey-free round from the morning wave were Heath Slocum (65), Cory Pavin (66), Nick O’Hern (67), Zach Johnson (67) and J.J. Henry (68), while the afternoon wave of players to go bogey-free included: Scott Verplank (65) and Justin Leonard (67).
• Below is the breakdown of all the players in the field
with ties to the area: • Sean O’Hair needed only 22 putts to get around the TPC River Highlands on Thursday…Nick Watney lead the field in dirivng distance, 308 yard average. • Jason Gore withdrew from the tournament after his round on Thursday…Glen Day earned a spot in the field when Charles Warren withdrew due to a strained right rib. • The scoring average of 70.556 made it 18 times in 23 years (five consecutive) since the tournament moved to the TPC River Highlands that the first-round scoring average was over par. • Scoring averages for Thursday: Front 9 Back 9 TOTAL
Thursday 35.282 35.282 70.564
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