The Honda Classic: First-Round Notebook
By Stewart Moore, PGA TOUR Staff
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- 2006 Honda Classic champion Luke Donald carded a first-round 64 on Thursday at The Honda Classic and will take a one-shot lead over Brian Davis into Friday's second round.
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• Donald entered the week ranked 31st on the FedExCup points list after only two starts in 2008. He tied for third at the Northern Trust Open and won one match last week at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship.
• This marks the third 18-hole lead of Donald's PGA TOUR career. He opened with a 63 at the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii before finishing tied for second and opened with a 62 at the 2006 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am en route to finishing tied for seventh.
• The last first-round leader/co-leader to go on and win at The Honda Classic was Justin Leonard in 2003, when he carded an opening-round 63 en route to his one-shot victory over Davis Love III and Chad Campbell.
• 2004 Nationwide Tour Player of the Year Jimmy Walker is making the most of his opportunity this week after getting into the event on Wednesday morning when Michael Sim withdrew. Walker carded a 3-under 67 on Thursday. Walker became a member of the PGA TOUR in 2005, but was limited to nine events after suffering a back injury prior to the Sony Open in Hawaii.
• The irony of Walker getting in as an alternate is that he took the spot of an alternate. Sim had gained entry into The Honda Classic earlier in the week when 2008 Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger withdrew.
• Three-time major champion Ernie Els opened with a round of 3-under 67 in what was his first start at The Honda Classic since 1999. Today marked Els' 48th start on the PGA TOUR since his last win at the 2004 World Golf Championships-CA Championship. Two of Els' 15 career TOUR titles have come in the state of Florida: The 2002 Genuity Championship and the 1998 Bay Hill Invitational.
• PGA TOUR rookie Matt Jones continued his solid play in 2008 on Thursday with a 4-under 66. The 2007 Nationwide Tour graduate has made five out of five cuts this year with four top-30 finishes with his best being a tie for 17th at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
• Jones finished seventh on the 2007 Nationwide Tour money list with earnings of $302,227; however, he did not record a single victory. Four runner-up finishes left the Australian as only the fourth player in Nationwide Tour history to record over $300,000 in single-season earnings without a win.
• Another TOUR rookie, Tim Wilkinson, got off to a good start on Thursday with a 3-under 67. Wilkinson burst on to the worldwide scene earlier this year with a third-round 62 in the Sony Open in Hawaii; a round which put him in Sunday's final pairing with eventual winner K.J. Choi (Wilkinson carded a final-round 78 and finished tied for 25th).
• Kevin Sutherland, who shot an opening-round 67, has not played The Honda Classic since 1998, when he finished tied for seventh behind eventual winner Mark Calcavecchia. Earlier this year, Sutherland opened with a 6-under-par 65 at the FBR Open in Scottsdale to take a share of the first-round lead with Charles Warren before finishing tied for fourth.
• Englishman Brian Davis opened with a 5-under 65. Davis opened this tournament with a 68 last year and was tied for seventh before finishing tied for 46th on the week.
• 2000 Honda Classic champion Dudley Hart fired a first-round 68 in his first start since a tie for third at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Hart is playing on a Major Medical Extension in 2008 and was given 15 events to earn $485,931, which would combine with his 2007 earnings ($299,249) to equal No. 125 on the 2007 money list ($785,180). After his finish at Pebble Beach (his third start), Hart now has 12 events (including this week) to earn $162,960 in order to become fully exempt for 2008. Hart was limited to 12 starts on the PGA TOUR last year after his wife Suzanne was diagnosed with a non-smoking related tumor in her lungs in May and subsequently had two-thirds of one of her lungs removed.
• Defending champion Mark Wilson opened with a 3-over 73 on Thursday. Jack Nicklaus is the only player in tournament history to successfully defend his title, a feat which he achieved twice (1977 and 1978).
• While the leaderboard reflected a significant advantage to the morning wave, the difference between the scoring averages of the morning groups compared to the afternoon groups was minimal: Morning Wave -- 71.93; Afternoon Wave -- 72.26.
• The 179-yard par-3 15th, which kicks off PGA National's dreaded three-hole "Bear Trap" stretch, played as the most difficult hole on Thursday with a scoring average of 3.441.
• Bogey-free rounds: Luke Donald, Brian Davis, Tim Wilkinson, and Tag Ridings.
• Kyle Thompson and Y.E. Yang were the only players in the field who managed to hit 14 of 14 fairways on Thursday.
• Tommy Armour III withdrew during the first round with an illness and an elbow injury.
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