Late bloomer Rose shares lead on US PGA Tour
Connecticut. -- Justin Rose birdied five of his final six holes for a 6-under 64 and a share of the first-round lead in the Travelers Championship.
Rose, the Memorial winner three weeks ago but who failed to qualify for the U.S. Open last week at Pebble Beach, missed a 12-foot birdie putt on 18, leaving him tied with morning starters Padraig Harrington, Charlie Wi and Mathew Goggin.
"I was more than happy to walk off there with a par," he said. "But sometimes when things are going your way, you roll in a 30-footer and suddenly, I was like, 'Things are going right now.'"
Ireland's Harrington and Rose are trying to run Europe's tour-winning streak to four.
"As I've been saying for quite a while, European golf is very strong and there's a lot of good young players finding their way in the game, learning how to win, given the opportunity," Harrington said. "You've seen three in the last three weeks and a few others during the year."
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell won the big prize last week at the U.S. Open. The Memorial was Rose's first tour win, and fellow Englishman Lee Westwood won before that at the St. Jude Classic.
Harrington, Goggin and Wi all capitalized on perfect morning conditions, finishing well before high wind and heavy rain hit the area in the afternoon, forcing a 90-minute delay.
Harrington birdied his first three holes and was 4 under at the turn.
Goggin made his run on the back nine, birdying Nos. 13, 15 and 17.
Both Goggin and Wi played bogey-free rounds. Wi made four back-nine birdies, including three straight on 12, 13 and 14 to pull into even.
"The conditions were perfect when we teed off," Wi said. "The wind didn't start blowing until about the seventh hole so I was able to make some birdies when the conditions were perfect."
Vijay Singh shot a 65 in the afternoon despite wind gusts in the area of up to 25 mph.
"It wasn't totally into us, except for six holes, I think," Singh said. "It wasn't awfully bad. It was gusty, but if you timed it well, it wasn't that bad."
Six others also shot 65s, including 50-year-old former U.S. Open champion Corey Pavin, who hit all 14 fairways in regulation.
"It's really important to hit the fairways, keep it in play, hit some nice shots into the greens and take a birdie when you can get it," he said.
Last year, Kenny Perry won by shooting 22-under par. Harrington said knowing scores could go that low forced some aggressive play.
"You got to think you got to make birdies," Harrington said. "You really do. You gotta poach first and take your chance every now and again that you will get yourself in trouble, but hopefully you'll recover. But you've gotta take a chance to make plenty of birdies."
The shot of the day came from Chad Campbell, who used a 6-iron to ace the 165-yard 16th hole. Campbell knocked the ball just above the pin and watched it roll back into the cup.
"There wasn't much reaction on the green," he said. "We didn't know if it was going in. It was so early, it was pretty much just marshals back there. We didn't know for sure it was in."
Campbell said he has 10 aces in his life and this was his second on tour. It was the 30th ace in the history of the Connecticut tournament.
For his effort, Campbell won a $50,000 shopping spree at a jewelry store.
He followed the ace with a birdie on 17, and finished the first round at 3 under, three shots off the lead.
FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
The TPC at River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut
Par 70
64 Charlie Wi (Kor), Justin Rose (Eng), Mathew Goggin (Aus), Padraig Harrington (Irl)
65 Vijay Singh (Fij), Aron Price (Aus), Corey Pavin, Kevin Sutherland, Ben Curtis, Bubba Watson, Matthew Jones (Aus)
66 Jerry Kelly, Tim Herron, Billy Mayfair, Kevin Johnson, David Toms, Greg Chalmers (Aus), Steve Elkington (Aus), Joe Durant, Jason Bohn
67 Brian Stuard, Jeff Overton, Vaughn Taylor, Michael Bradley, Mark Hensby (Aus), Todd Hamilton, Mathias Gronberg (Swe), Matt Bettencourt, Steve Wheatcroft, Webb Simpson, Chad Campbell, Tim Petrovic, Scott Verplank, Carl Pettersson (Swe)
68 Michael Letzig, David Lutterus (Rsa), Chris Riley, Bill Lunde, Jeff Gove, Will MacKenzie, Craig Bowden, Nicholas Thompson, Luke List, Bryce Molder, Rodney Pampling (Aus), Michael Sim (Aus), Scott McCarron, Kris Blanks, Adam Scott (Aus), Retief Goosen (Rsa), Joe Ogilvie, Steve Flesch, Mark Brooks, Brandt Snedeker, Johnson Wagner, Ryan Moore
69 Kirk Triplett, J.P. Hayes, James Nitties (Aus), Daniel Chopra (Swe), Bill Haas, Bo Van Pelt,
Martin Laird (Sco), Boo Weekley, Matt Weibring, Brad Adamonis, Brian Davis (Eng), Chris Stroud, John Merrick, Michael Connell, Kenny Perry, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Ricky Barnes, Matthew Every, Jay Williamson, Skip Kendall, Cameron Tringale
70 Charley Hoffman, Marco Dawson, Woody Austin, Chris Couch, Roger Tambellini, Graham Delaet (Can), James Driscoll, Brett Quigley, Briny Baird, Stuart Appleby (Aus), Brendon De Jonge, Omar Uresti, Lee Janzen, Ted Purdy, Stewart Cink, Cliff Kresge, Parker McLachlin, Billy Andrade, Michael Allen, Notah Begay III, Tom Gleeton
71 Spencer Levin, Garth Mulroy (Rsa), Paul Stankowski, Jeff Quinney, Charles Howell III, Alex Prugh, John Daly, Roland Thatcher, Rickie Fowler, Charles Warren, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor), Garrett Willis, Scott Piercy, Nick Taylor (Can), Derek Lamely, Hunter Mahan, J J Henry, Richard S Johnson (Swe), Jarrod Lyle (Aus), Arjun Atwal (Ind), Brett Wetterich, Troy Matteson, Troy Merritt
72 Brent Delahoussaye, Derek Gillespie (Can), Steve Lowery, Greg Kraft, Brett Stegmaier, Brenden Pappas (Rsa), Greg Owen (Eng), Shaun Micheel, Jeff Maggert, Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Rich Barcelo
73 Jason Caron, Robert Garrigus, Brian Gay, Chris DiMarco, Harrison Frazar, Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Kevin Streelman, Chris Wilson, George McNeill, Kevin Stadler, Dean Wilson
74 Justin Bolli, Martin Flores, Vance Veazey, John Huston, Glen Day
75 Brad Faxon, Jerod Turner, Tom Pernice Jnr.
76 Chris Rogers, Blake Adams
77 Cameron Percy (Aus)
80 John Bierkan
86 Dustin Garza
Labels: US PGA TOUR, US PRO TOUR
