NATIONWIDE TOUR REPORT

Adams fires career-best 63 to take

first-round lead at Boise Open

FROM THE PGA.COM WEBSITE
Boise, Idaho -- Blake Adams figures he needs to hit his gap wedge as often as possible this week. Adams' wedge put him in birdie range time after time in the opening round of the Nationwide Tour's Albertsons Boise Open and the 34-year old Georgian took full advantage of the opportunities.
Adams tallied nine birdies and matched his career-best score with an eight-under 63, good for a one-stroke lead after the initial 18 holes in the $725,000 tournament.
Adams leads by one over US PGA Tour veteran Jonathan Kaye, who missed a short par putt on the closing hole. Texan J.J. Killeen and Patrick Sheehan, winner of the Athens Regional Foundation Classic, share third place, two back of Adams, who is No. 4 on the money thanks to seven top-10 finishes this season.
Justin Bolli, Skip Kendall, Martin Piller and Canada's Chris Baryla are three back and tied for fifth place.
Adams, the Tour leader in driving distance, got off to a potentially disastrous start on the opening par-4. His 3-wood "failed to turn over" on the dogleg-left, 409-yard hole and went through a fairway bunker, but just barely. He had one foot in the bunker and one foot out and overhanging tree branches in front.
"A lot of my friends back home call me "Tin Cup" because I don't like laying up," said Adams. "I've learned there are times that you have to and I probably should have there. I was thinking that it's just the first hole of the day and you just don't want to pitch out."
Adams' second shot caught a tree branch and dropped straight down in a bad lie. He pulled his third left and into a grrenside bunker, plugging near the lip. A big blast left him 20 feet away in four. Adams, ranked No. 6 on Tour putting, rolled it in for a 5.
"I don't know if there's anything such as a good bogey," he said. "But I'll gladly take that. Looking back on it, considering the lies I had in the rough and the bunker, I was glad to make 5."
It was the only 5 on the card for Adams, who registered 10 3s on the day.
"I just putted well, that's the main thing," he said. "I hit some good shots but I just made the putts. That's the difference in anybody's round out here. Everybody hits it about the same, it's just who makes the putts."
Kaye shared the lead until missing a left-to-right sliding downhill three-footer at No. 18.
"I wanted to ram it but I knew if I missed it I'd be chipping back," he said.
Despite the miss, Kaye was pleased with his first Nationwide Tour start since 1997, when he briefly teed it up three times.
"I came out with no expectations and tried to hit solid shots," he said after seven birdies and an eagle. "I made one bad club selection on the fourth hole and made bogey. A par-save at eight kept my round going."
Things haven't been going well for Kaye, who is playing on the US PGA Tour this year on a Major Medical Extension. The 39-year old Phoenix resident has been battling to get back to full strength since 2006.
"Playing on a 'medical' I haven't gotten to pick the starts I would normally pick. I didn't get to play at venues that I normally like to play," said Kaye, who has made seven cuts in 17 starts this season. "I wasn't quite 100%. I may have started playing too soon the year before."
Kay's 7-under matched his season-best, a 7-under at the Valero Texas Open earlier this summer, but he still finds himself No. 162 on the money list and making his first start since the PGA TOUR regular season more than a month ago.
"The goal is to win," he said. "I have to get my card back somehow. If I can win here and make some more money somewhere else I might be able to sneak in there."
First-Round Notes:
* This week's field might be one of the strongest ever assembled for a Nationwide Tour event. There are 67 of the top 70 money winners entered. Number one Michael Sim, No. 40 Craig Barlow and No. 56 Jhonattan Vegas are the only missing members from the first 70.
* Heralded amateurs Rickie Fowler and Sam Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer, made their professional debuts. Saunders returned an even-par 71 and Fowler a 73.
* 77 players in the field of 156 broke par in the opening round and 86 posted par-or-better scores. The first-round scoring average for the par-71 layout was 70.942.
FIRST-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 71
63 Blake Adams.
64 Jonathan Kaye.
65 J J Killeen, Patrick Sheehan.
66 Justin Bolli, Skip Kendall, Martin Piller.
67 Esteban Toledo, Josh Teater, Daniel Summerhays, Fabian Gomez, Chris Baryla.
Selected scores:
74 Gary Christian.
76 Matthew Richardson.