By Bill Cooney, PGATOUR.COM ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A driver and a wedge. Bud Cauley used those two clubs to make the game of golf look rather easy on Thursday afternoon. Backed by some long and accurate tee shots, Cauley took dead aim with his wedges to produce a competitive course record-tying, 8-under 62 during the first round of The McGladrey Classic. It gave the Jacksonville, Fla., native a share of the lead with Marco Dawson. Greg Owen, Boo Weekley and Rod Pampling were tied for third place, two shots back after 64s. Cauley hit 13 of 14 fairways and 14 greens in regulation during his low round on the TOUR. He hit all seven fairways and hit eight of nine greens during a back-nine 29 in which he birdied five of the first six holes. "Really no complaints today," said Cauley, who has six top 10s this season but is still searching for his first career victory. "I've been struggling with my driving a little bit, and I've been working hard on that and was able to drive it really well today. "And then took advantage of that with some great iron shots and made most of the putts, so all in all it was a really good day." Dawson, 48, is also looking for his first win. His best finish is second at the 1995 Greater Milwaukee Open. "You know, I just made some good putts coming in," Dawson said. "I haven't played well all year, and when I have played decent or had a good round going, I managed to screw it up somehow." Dawson said that made him anxious after he got to 7 under and led to his lone bogey on the fourth hole. But he bounced back with birdies on Nos. 5 and 6 and finished nicely. In 20 events this season, Dawson's best finish is a T52 at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. But he's fought through the tough times and finds himself 54 holes from a rewarding finish. "That would be real huge," Dawson said. "So I'm looking forward to doing that. So I've got a good start so far.

U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Davis Love III has withdrawn from the Shell Houston Open.

The development was not entirely unexpected. Love withdrew prior to the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard after hurting his rib on Friday “swinging too hard at buried lies,” he later tweeted. Love said he was having a bone scan on Monday.

Late Monday evening Love tweeted congratulations to Tiger Woods for breaking a 30-month victory drought at Bay Hill and his long-time friend Fred Couples, who won on the Champions Tour Sunday.

“And I am out with a cracked rib, hopefully not too long,” Love tweeted.

Marco Dawson replaced Love in the field at Redstone Golf Club.

Marco Dawson has been to the final stage of q-school before -- 11 times to be exact.

While that’s a somewhat dubious honor, experience goes a long way and so far Dawson has been able to use to it his advantage. The 48-year-old is near the top of the leaderboard at PGA West, where he’s tied for the lead at 13 under after playing his first six holes on the Stadium Course in even par.

Dawson spent this past season on the Nationwide Tour, where he earned just over $156,000 and finished 32nd on the money list -- only the top 25 are guaranteed PGA TOUR cards for 2012 and Dawson missed that mark by about $24,000.

The other thing Dawson has working for him is that he’s twice made it through q-school at PGA West. If he keeps playing the way he is, the third time will certainly be a charm.