Wyndham Championship: First-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff GREENSBORO, N.C. -- As temperatures reached as high as 98 degrees Thursday, the excessive heat caused power outages in several areas at Forest Oaks, including the skyboxes that surround the 18th green along with the media center, from 2:25 p.m. to 5:55 p.m.  Michael Putnam followed up a double bogey with a hole-in-one Thursday. (Sam Greenwood/WireImage)
• Michael Putnam had a hole-in-one on No. 17 Thursday, using a 3-iron from 227 yards. Putnam's ace came on the heels of a double-bogey 6 at the par-4 16th hole. He finished with a 5-under 67. That is the 14th ace in tournament history at Forest Oaks, but only the third on the 17th hole. The others came from Tommy Price (second round, 1990) and Justin Rose (first round, 2004). • Of the top 25 players on the leaderboard at 67 or better Thursday, Michael Putnam is the only player with a double bogey on his scorecard. • Lucas Glover, selected earlier this week by Captain Jack Nicklaus for the U.S. Presidents Cup team, shot a 7-under-par 65 Thursday and is tied for second place. Glover has made six consecutive cuts and 17 of 23 this year on TOUR. He has three top-10 finishes, with his best a tie for fourth at the PODS Championship in Tampa in mid-March. • Shigeki Maruyama, a winner here in 2003 and runner-up in 2005, posted a bogey-free 66 to grab the early clubhouse lead Thursday. The 6-under score is his lowest (in relation to par) this year -- his third-round 65 at the AT&T National was a 5-under score. Maruyama, the all-time leading money winner in this event, has made the cut in only eight of 23 starts this year and enters the week No. 162 on the FedExCup points list. His best finish this season is a tie for 15th at the Travelers Championship in late June. • Will MacKenzie went Maruyama one better, hitting 17 greens in regulation and posting an 8-under 64. MacKenzie made it "book-end leads" in the FedExCup season. The 32-year old Greenville, N.C., resident shared the first-round lead with four others at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship and now has the lead in the final regular-season event. MacKenzie has made the cut in eight of his last nine starts, but has moved up only six spots (from No. 88 to No. 82) in the FedExCup standings during this stretch. • Will MacKenzie's 8-under score Thursday is his best (in relation to par) this year and his best since a 9-under 63 in the opening round of the 2006 Reno-Tahoe Open, his only career win to date. MacKenzie carded a 64 (6-under) in the second round of the 2007 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee and a 64 (7-under) in the first round of the 2006 Frys.com Open. • Will MacKenzie's 64 is two shots off the tournament record for lowest opening round. Charles Warren shot a 62 to open the 2005 event. • Since 1976, only three first-round leaders have gone to win this event. Danny Edwards (1982), Mike Springer (1994) and Jesper Parnevik (1999) are the only ones to do it. • On the PGA TOUR this year, only seven of 34 first-round leaders have gone on to victory. The last to do it was Steve Flesch, who went wire-to-wire at the Reno-Tahoe Open. • Rookie Steve Marino also hit 16 greens in regulation and carded a 7-under 65. Marino has made 16 cuts in 22 starts and went over the $1 million mark with his tie for 15th at the Canadian Open. His 65 matches his best opening-round of the year, a 7-under 65 on the North Course at the Buick Invitational. Marino entered the week No. 63 on the FedExCup points list. • Nathan Green had two eagles Thursday, both on par 5s (Nos. 9 and 13). He is the 23rd player to accomplish that on the 2007 PGA TOUR. Green had birdies on the other two par 5s and finished the day 6 under on those holes. For year, Green ranks tied for 13th in Par-5 Scoring Average (4.62). • The scoring average for the day 69.718, making it the lowest single-round scoring average at Forest Oaks CC. The previous low was 69.961 in the third round of 2005. The previous lowest opening-round scoring average at Forest Oaks was 70.000 in 2006. • Todd Hamilton posted a 6-under-par 66 Thursday. Hamilton has made only six cuts in 23 starts this year on the PGA TOUR and has not had a top-10 finish since a tie for 10th at the 2006 John Deere Classic. Hamilton hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation (88.9%). For the year, the former Open Championship winner ranks No. 193 in GIR (54.17%) and Scoring Average (73.05). • Brian Davis' 65 Thursday is his best round of the 2007 PGA TOUR season. Davis, runner-up to Woody Austin at the Stanford St. Jude Championship, has made eight consecutive cuts and 13 of 19 this year. He is No. 72 on the FedExCup points list.
• Jeff Overton posted a season-best 65 Thursday afternoon and is tied for second after the opening 18. Overton's 65 matches his career-best round on the PGA TOUR, which he has done three times. He has one top-10 finish this year, a tie for 10th at the Stanford St. Jude Championship. Overton has made the cut in five of 10 starts and is No. 165 on the FedExCup points list. • Greg Kraft (66) is making only his fourth start on the PGA TOUR this year. Kraft's 6-under score is his best (in relation to par) since a 6-under 66 in the first round of the 2006 84 Lumber Classic. • Tim Petrovic recovered nicely after starting his round double bogey, bogey on his first two holes. Petrovic was error-free the rest of the way, playing the final 16 in 7-under par fashion and finished with a 4-under 68. • There were several bogey-free rounds Thursday, from Brian Davis, Lucas Glover and Jeff Overton (all 65s); Shigeki Maruyama and John Merrick (66s); Bob Tway and Ryuji Imada (67s); Michael Boyd and Chris Stroud (68s); Robert Gamez and Brian Gay (69s); and Brandt Snedeker (70). • Joe Ogilvie led the field with 23 putts. Joe Durant and Bob Estes each hit 14 of 14 fairways. Robert Damron, J. J. Henry, Mathew Goggin, Tripp Isenhour, Will MacKenzie, John Merrick, Todd Fischer and Jeff Overton each hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation • This week's Wyndham Championship is the 36th of 36 Regular Season events on the 2007 PGA TOUR schedule. Starting next week at The Barclays, the top 144 players on the FedExCup points list will advance to the four-week long PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup that culminate with the top-30 players teeing it up in THE TOUR Championship in Atlanta. |
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