Reno-Tahoe Open: First-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff RENO, Nev. -- Steve Flesch, with eagles at the par-5 fourth and the par-5 11th holes on Thursday, became the 21st player to record two eagles in one round on the 2007 PGA TOUR. • Flesch's round of 63 was one off the course record at Montreux G&CC and one off his personal best PGA TOUR record of 62, which he fired in the opening round of the 2003 Las Vegas Invitational.  Defending champ Will MacKenzie got off to a strong start in his bid to repeat in Reno. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
• Why the great round for Flesch? The lefty hit 13 of 14 fairways and 17 of 18 greens, a far contrast from his 2007 rankings in those categories on TOUR: 115th and 128th, respectively. • Through last week's Canadian Open, Flesch had recorded only one top-10 finish on the PGA TOUR in 2007. He has had a minimum of two top-10s every year on TOUR since 1998. • Defending champion Will MacKenzie opened with a round of 66 en route to his attempt to become the third player to successfully defend a title in 2007 (Tiger Woods, Buick Invitational and World Golf Championships-CA Championship; Jim Furyk, Canadian Open). • The lowest first round by a defending champion at the Reno-Tahoe Open came in 2005, when Vaughn Taylor opened with 64 on his way to successfully defending his title. • Jose Coceres used a hole-in-one at the par-3 sixth hole on his way to an opening-round 64. This is the eighth hole-in-one in Reno-Tahoe Open history and the second at the seventh. No one has ever recorded a hole-in-one at the par-3 second. • Coceres finished 147th on the 2006 PGA TOUR money list and in turn has conditional status on TOUR for 2007. While only playing in limited events, Coceres has made the best of his situation with three top-five finishes, including two playoff losses and a fifth place finish at THE PLAYERS Championship. He is currently 60th in the FedExCup points standings. • Coceres' 64 is his first opening round in the 60s on TOUR since the Verizon Heritage in April. • Steve Allan, who lost the Reno-Tahoe Open in a playoff in 2004 after a gut-wrenching double bogey on the 72nd hole, opened with 65 and is in position to record his second consecutive top-10 finish on the PGA TOUR (tie for seventh, Canadian Open). The only time Allan has recorded back-to-back top-10s on TOUR came in 2003 at the Greater Milwaukee Open (tie for second) and the B.C. Open (tie for fifth). • Lucas Glover's first-round 67 has him positioned to climb into the top 10 of the Presidents Cup standings (the top 10 receive automatic berths to the U.S. team). Should he win this week, he would become the first Reno-Tahoe Open winner to parlay that victory into a berth onto that year's Presidents Cup team. • Amazingly, a total of 10 players hit all 14 fairways during Thursday's opening round: Ryan Armour, Jason Gore, Tom Pernice Jr., Jim Rutledge, Kevin Sutherland, Willie Wood, Brent Geiberger, John Huston, Paul Sheehan, and Brian Gay. • There were six total eagles made on Thursday: Steve Flesch (2), Jose Coceres, Joel Edwards, Ian Leggatt, and Johnson Wagner. • Bogey-Free Rounds: Steve Flesch, Jason Gore, Jason Dufner, Alex Cejka, Jarrod Lyle, and Steve Elkington. |
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