WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone CC

Vijay's last-hole double bogey 6
allows Goosen to lead

South African Retief Goosen showed that being under-prepared is not necessarily a bad thing as he took the first round lead at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Thursday.
Despite arriving late in Akron, Ohio and not having the benefit of even one practice round, the South African shot a four-under-par 66 in benign morning conditions at Firestone Country Club.
Goosen leads Vijay Singh, Zach Johnson, Daniel Chopra and Tim Clark by one stroke after a day when 33 players in the 80-man field broke par.
Chez Reavie, who won the Canadian Open last week, Rocco Mediate, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk are in a large group at two-under 68.
Goosen spent Monday and Tuesday in Florida, working with his coach, before jetting in less than 24 hours before the first round.
"There's so much crap going on at a course from Monday to Wednesday, I'm just not for it anymore," he said.
"I just arrive at the last minute, play my (practice) round and get the tournament under way.
"I got in here lunchtime yesterday and then it rained, so I didn't go out on the course at all. I know the course well, so it's not that I really needed a practice round."
Singh, meanwhile, was leading with one hole to play, only to run up a double-bogey 6 at the par-4 18th, where he sprayed his drive into the right rough and later three-putted from 10 feet.
"It was a bad double," he said. "That's the only fairway I missed. I tried to hit it to the fat side of the fairway and I came off it a little bit."
FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 70
66 Retief Goosen (Rsa).
67 Vijay Singh (Fij), Daniel Chopra (Swe), Zach Johnson, Tim Clark (Rsa)
68 Steve Stricker, Steve Webster (Eng), Chris DiMarco, Scott Strange (Aus), Stewart Cink, Charles Howell III, Chez Reavie, Phil Mickelson, Chad Campbell, Justin Leonard, Jim Furyk, Sean O'Hair, Brandt Snedeker, Rocco Mediate, D.J. Trahan
69 Rodney Pampling (Aus), Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Ross Fisher (Eng), Adam Scott (Aus), Brendan Jones (Aus), Peter Lonard (Aus), J J Henry, J.B. Holmes, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Richard Finch (Eng), Ernie Els (Rsa), Padraig Harrington (Irl), Stephen Ames (Can)
70 Graeme McDowell (NIrl), Lucas Glover, Steve Flesch, Darren Clarke (NIrl), Nick O'Hern (Aus), Paul Casey (Eng), Prayad Marksaeng (Tha), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Ian Poulter (Eng), Craig Parry (Aus), Paul McGinley (Irl), Lee Westwood (Eng), Johnson Wagner, Stuart Appleby (Aus)
71 Oliver Wilson (Eng), Woody Austin, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Hunter Mahan, Robert Karlsson (Swe), Anthony Kim, Justin Rose (Eng), Robert Allenby (Aus), Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Scott Verplank
72 Vaughn Taylor, Colin Montgomerie (Sco), David Toms, Nick Dougherty (Eng), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Angel Cabrera (Arg), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Richard Green (Aus), Boo Weekley
73 James Kingston (Rsa), KJ Choi (Kor), Andres Romero (Arg), Henrik Stenson (Swe)
74 Kenny Perry
75 Hidemasa Hoshino (Jpn), Brett Rumford (Aus), Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Soren Hansen (Den), Steve Lowery
79 Aaron Baddeley (Aus)
80 Mark Brown