Nissan Open: First-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Media Official LOS ANGELES -- Play was suspended due to darkness at 5:50 p.m. local time with six players yet to complete their round. Those players will be back in position at 8:00 a.m. Friday.  Defending champ Rory Sabbatini is off to a solid start. (Steve Grayson/WireImage)
• The 81st playing of the Nissan Open began with Padraig Harrington storming out of the gate with an 8-under-par 63 -- equaling the lowest opening 18-hole score in tournament history, set by Lanny Wadkins in 1985 and Michael Allen in 1990. The two-time PGA TOUR winner is making his first career start at the Nissan Open. • Padraig Harrington's only other 18-hole lead came at the 2003 THE PLAYERS Championship, where he would eventually finish T2 and six strokes behind champion Davis Love III. • Harrington's three-shot lead is the largest 18-hole lead of the season on the PGA TOUR. It is the largest opening-round lead at the Nissan Open since Fred Funk held the same margin in 2003. • Phil Mickelson is making his ninth career start at the Nissan Open, but first since missing the cut in 2001. He opened with a 5-under 66, his best score in 24 rounds at the tournament. His previous low round was a 67 during the first round in 1998, with his best finish a T15 in 1999. • Phil Mickelson, who won his 30th career PGA TOUR title last week at Pebble Beach, is playing a TOUR event for the fifth consecutive week for just the third time in his career. A start at next week's World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship will mark the first time in Mickelson's career that he has teed it up six straight weeks on TOUR. The other two five-week streaks are as follows: 2001 - Honda Classic (March 8-11) through the Masters Tournament (April 5-8) 1992 - B.C. Open (September 24-27) through the H.E.B. Texas Open (October 22-25) • This year represents the 81st playing of the Nissan Open. Outside of the major championships, the tournament is the fourth oldest event on the PGA TOUR, following the BMW Championship (1899), Canadian Open (1904) and Valero Texas Open (1922). Riviera Country Club is hosting its 45th Nissan Open. The first, then called the Los Angeles Open, was held at Riviera in 1929 and won by MacDonald Smith's 1-over-par 285.
• Phil Mickelson (66) and David Howell (67) managed the only bogey-free rounds during the first round. • Defending champion Rory Sabbatini is one of nine past champions of the Nissan Open competing this week. He is seeking to become the seventh player to successfully defend a title at the Nissan Open, joining MacDonald Smith (1928-29), Ben Hogan (1947-48), Paul Harney (1964-65), Arnold Palmer (1966-67), Corey Pavin (1994-95) and Mike Weir (2003-04). Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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