Quail Hollow Championship: Round 1 notebook

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Weather: Sunny. High of 75. Winds SW 5-10 mph.

Bo Van Pelt opened with a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Kenny Perry at the 2010 Quail Hollow Championship. It fell just one stroke shy of the tournament-record 64 (shared with Kirk Triplett/R1/2004 and Rory Sabbatini/R2/2007) Van Pelt posted during round two of the 2006 Quail Hollow Championship.

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Van Pelt is making his sixth start at Quail Hollow, with a T6 in 2006 the best of his four made cuts. His only top-10 finish in 11 previous starts this season came in his last outing -- a T3 at the Verizon Heritage. He is currently No. 39 on the FedExCup points list.

This represents the fifth first-round lead/co-lead of Van Pelt's career. He has yet to win with the 18-hole lead, finishing T7 at the 2004 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, T2 at the 2008 Puerto Rico Open, T17 at the 2008 Buick Open and T28 at the 2009 Mayakoba Golf Classic.

The only first-round leader/co-leader to win at Quail Hollow was Jim Furyk in 2006. The first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win three of 17 stroke-play events in 2010 (Ryan Palmer/Sony Open in Hawaii, Dustin Johnson/AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Jason Bohn/Zurich Classic of New Orleans).

Kenny Perry has made the cut in six of seven starts in 2010, but has just one top-25 -- T6 at the SBS Championship. He is making his fifth-career start at Quail Hollow, with a T11 in 2005 his best finish. His 66 on Thursday bests his previous-best score at Quail Hollow by two strokes (4-under 68/R1/2005).

2007 Quail Hollow Championship winner Tiger Woods began this year's event on the back nine and carded a 3-over 39 en route to a 2-over 74. It is his highest nine-hole score on TOUR since an opening-nine 39 in round three of the 2007 THE PLAYERS Championship (finished T37). The last time Woods posted a higher nine-hole score was at the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational, posting a back-nine 43 en route to a T22 finish.

Woods' previous worst 9-hole score at Quail Hollow was 38 (2004/R3/front nine and 2007/R4/back nine).

Tiger Woods' worst standing after the opening round of a tournament that he went on to win: 2009 Buick Open (T95) and the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational (T83). He currently sits T88.

Tiger Woods (T88) has now been ranked 60th or worse after any given round 49 times in his professional career. Here's a breakdown of those numbers:

60th or worse -- 49 times

70th or worse -- 32 times

80th or worse -- 19 times

90th or worse -- 13 times (best finish, win at the 2009 Buick Open after being ranked T95 after R1)

100th or worse -- 9 times (best finish, runner-up at 2005 Western Open after being ranked T103 after R1)

Tiger Woods' career results -- Quail Hollow Championship

In 17 rounds at Quail Hollow Club, 2007 champion Tiger Woods has now posted just three over-par scores: a third-round 3-over 75 in 2004, a third-round 1-over 73 in 2005 and Thursday's 2-over 74.

With the exception of the majors, the Quail Hollow Championship has featured the most difficult finishing holes (Nos. 16-17-18) on TOUR six out of the last seven years. The only exception was 2004, when the closing holes at East Lake GC (The TOUR Championship) barely edged out Nos. 16-18 at Quail Hollow. The three holes were the toughest on the course on Thursday:

Coming into the week, only two players (Glen Hnatiuk/-2 and Bill Lunde/-1) have played the three closing holes at Quail Hollow (nicknamed "The Green Mile") under par in their careers (four or more rounds played). Lunde (73) played the holes in 1-under on Thursday (par-birdie-par) to improve his career score to 2-under.

Tiger Woods played Nos. 16-18 in 3-over on Thursday (par-double bogey-bogey), while Phil Mickelson made his way through at 2-over (par-bogey-bogey).

Head-to-Head Career Scoring Breakdown at Quail Hollow:

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are teeing it up together for only the second time this year, but the 173rd time in their professional careers. Mickelson won earlier this year at the Masters, but overall Woods has won 53 times when playing in the same event as Mickelson (who has 14 wins in those events). The lefthander has won the last three tournaments that both have played (THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and the Masters).

Phil Mickelson, making his first start since winning the Masters Tournament, is making his seventh start at the Quail Hollow Championship. He owns four top-10s here (2004-T5, 2005-T7, 2007-T3, 2009-T4). Here's a look at how Mickelson has fared in his next start after winning a major championship:

2004 Masters, followed by T2 at Zurich Classic of New Orleans

2005 PGA Championship, followed by T51 at World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational

2006 Masters, followed by T15 at Zurich Classic of New Orleans

2010 Masters, TBD at the Quail Hollow Championship

Brian Stuard's 3-under 69 snapped a streak of 17 consecutive rounds in the 70s. The 27-year-old TOUR rookie opened the season with four made cuts in his first five starts, including a runner-up finish at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. He has yet to play on a Sunday in his last seven starts, however, missing six cuts and finishing T73 at the Shell Houston Open (made cut, did not finish).

With a birdie on the par-4 first hole on Thursday, 2008 champion Anthony Kim is a collective 8-under (8 birdies, 5 pars) on that hole in his four starts here (13 rounds). He stood at 5-under through eight holes on Thursday but played the remaining 10 holes at 5-over, finishing with a 72. Kim has just one over-par round in four starts at Quail Hollow, a 6-over 78 in round three in 2009 (finished T47).

Monday Qualifier Billy Mayfair opened with a 4-under 68, his first sub-70 opening-round score in eight starts at Quail Hollow. He owned a 73.86 opening-round scoring average in seven previous starts here, with a previous-best 70 in 2004 and a previous-worst 78 in 2009.

Jim Furyk's 3-over 75 represents his first over-par opening-round score in seven starts at the Quail Hollow Championship. The two-time winner in 2010 has an interesting record at Quail Hollow. In six previous starts he has a 1st, a 2nd, a T7 and a T11. In his other two starts he's missed the cut.

In addition to winning the 2005 tournament, Vijay Singh has also finished T2 (2003), T7 (2007), T10 (2004) and T17 (2008) at Quail Hollow. The 2008 FedExCup champion opened on Thursday with 77.

Brad Faxon opened with a 4-under 68, just his fourth round in the 60s out of 28 rounds in 2010.

Parker McLachlin (88) had a 12 on the par-5 seventh hole, equaling the highest score of the year. Michael Campbell carded the same score on the par-5 sixth hole during 2010 Arnold Palmer Invitational (R2).

Since 1983, there have been just 12 scores higher than the 12 posted by McLachlin on Thursday:

McLachlin's 88 is the highest score of the season. Sandy Lyle had the previous high with an 86 at the Masters (R2). McLachlin carded an 84 at the Shell Houston Open (R1) to equal the third-highest score of the year.

Three of the seven past champions of the Quail Hollow Championship are currently ranked among the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Here's a look at how each started on Thursday (2004 champion Joey Sindelar isn't participating):

The last three winners of the Quail Hollow Championship (O'Hair, Kim, Woods) have gone on to finish inside the top five in the FedExCup standings that year.

Four of the top-5 in the Official World Golf Ranking and their first-round score: Tiger Woods (#1/74), Phil Mickelson (#2/70), Lee Westwood (#4/73) and Jim Furyk (#5/75).

Bogey-free rounds

R1 -- Camilo Villegas (65), Bo Van Pelt (67), Brad Faxon (68)

Scoring Averages at the par-71 Quail Hollow Club:

Greg Kraft withdrew after nine holes with vertigo.