Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf: First-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff SAVANNAH, Ga. -- After firing a course-record, 8-under-par 64 in the final round of the 2006 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, Mark James followed up with a 5-under 67 in the opening round of the Legends Division on Friday. It was his lowest first-round score since starting with an 8-under 64 en route to victory at the Allianz Championship in Boca Raton.  Tom Kite hit the most fairways but the fewest greens among the leaders Friday. (Steve Grayson/WireImage)
• This is Mark James' 58th start on the Champions Tour and marks the first time in his career on the circuit that he's led after the first round. In the previous eight official events on the Champions Tour in 2007, four first-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win. • James' 5-under 67 is the highest score to lead after the first round of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf since Vicente Fernandez carded 67 in 2003 and led Morris Hatalsky and Fuzzy Zoeller by a stroke. • Tom Purtzer, the March Player of the Month on the Champions Tour, was one of three players in at 4-under 68, his 12th consecutive sub-par score on the Champions Tour. Purtzer's run of sub-par rounds began with a 69 on Saturday at The ACE Group Classic and included a victory at the AT&T Champions Classic in Valencia, Calif. • Andy North and Tom Watson, the two-time defending champions in the Raphael Division, carded a bogey-free 7-under 65 and extended their run of bogey-free holes in the better-ball team competition to 90 consecutive holes. Watson and North, however, trail the 2003 Raphael Division champions, Gary Koch and Roger Maltbie, by two strokes heading into Saturday's final round. A bogey on the par-3 17th hole ended Koch/Maltbie's streak of bogey-free holes at 88 consecutive. • Mark O'Meara's run of consecutive sub-par rounds ended at 12 straight after he posted a 1-over 73 Friday. It was O'Meara's first round over par on the Champions Tour since his Sunday score of 82 at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am in mid-February. • Loren Roberts' 1-under 71 extended his all-time record streak of par/better scores to 36 consecutive. Roberts' run began at the 2006 Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach last fall. • The newest members of the World Golf Hall of Fame fared well in the opening round of the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf. Both Hubert Green and Curtis Strange carded 1-under 71s. Both will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in St. Augustine on Nov. 12. • The par-4 fifth hole played as the most difficult, yielding just three birdies and averaging 4.36 strokes. Over the previous four years at the Westin Savannah Harbor course, No. 5 has ranked as the 11th-most difficult hole (3.993/-.007). • Friday's stroke average of 73.080 was the highest for a first round since the event moved to the Westin Savannah Harbor Resort & Spa in 2003. The previous-high first round at this course was 72.370 in 2003. Last year, the course played to a stroke average of 72.327 on Friday. There were just five rounds in the 60s Friday and 15 players were under par. Last year on Friday, there were seven rounds in the 60s and 19 players under par. • Mark James was the only player in the Legends Division field to make an eagle, carding a 3 on the par-5 11th hole. James, along with John Jacobs, had 10 one-putts in their rounds Friday. Jacobs and Mark McNulty both had 24 putts, the fewest on Friday. • Tom Purtzer and Tom Kite were the only two players in the field to card bogey-free rounds. Both players opened with 4-under-par 68s. • Keith Fergus now has gone 181 straight holes without a three-putt, the year's longest active streak. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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