First round: Mahan kicks off Playoffs opener with 62
PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) -- With two perfect shots, Hunter Mahan put a terrible week at the PGA Championship behind him at The Barclays.
Playing in calm morning conditions at demanding Ridgewood Country Club, Mahan split the fairway with his opening drive, then watched his 98-yard sand wedge shot spin back into the hole for an unlikely eagle. Seventeen holes and eight birdies later, he signed for a 9-under 62, good for a four-stroke lead Thursday in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup opener.
"I was surprised to shoot so low," Mahan said. "I didn't have any idea what was going to be a good score out here. ... It's definitely not that easy. It's perfect conditions. You've got great weather. The course is in perfect shape right now. Playing in the morning helped a lot. The greens were a little bit more receptive."
Two weeks ago in the PGA Championship at Oakland Hills, the 26-year-old former Oklahoma State player shot 81-79 to miss the cut, and made news with critical remarks about the Ryder Cup in a Golf magazine interview.
"I wanted to get that out of my system and just play golf today -- and I did," Mahan said. "It was a pretty tough week, but you learn from your mistakes."
England's Paul Casey shot a 66, and Bo Van Pelt, Kevin Streelman, Mathew Goggin, Charley Hoffman and afternoon starter Dudley Hart had 67s. Steve Stricker, the winner last year at Westchester Country Club, topped the group at 68.
Trying to earn a spot on the Ryder Cup team as one of Paul Azinger's four captain's picks, Mahan hit 11 of 14 fairways, 15 greens in regulation and needed only 23 putts.
"The greens are good. I mean, they're perfect. Perfect speed," Mahan said. "I think you can be aggressive. I was committed to my lines and made aggressive strokes."
Mahan birdied Nos. 4, 5 and 7, holing putts from 21, 12 and 4 feet, to get to 5 under. He bogeyed the par-3 eighth, got the stroke back with a 7-foot birdie putt on No. 10 and added a 14-footer on 12.
On the 615-yard, par-5 13th, he hammered a 332-yard drive, hit a 3-wood 265 yards to just short of the green and chipped to 4 feet to set up another birdie. He followed that with a curving 40-footer on the par-3 14th, and capped the round on the par-4 18th with a 180-yard shot to 3 feet for his eighth birdie.
Mahan, 31st in the FedExCup standings, established the course record in the first PGA TOUR round on the A.W. Tillinghast-designed layout -- a composite of Ridgewood's three nine-hole courses.
"I thought the scores weren't going to be as low," Phil Mickelson said after his morning 70. "Hunter had such a great round and there were some 4- or 5-under par rounds. So my 1-under par round is not as good as I thought it would be, but I thought I played well and I'll take it."
With the groupings based on FedExCup points, Mickelson played alongside British Open and PGA Championship winner Padraig Harrington (72) and Kenny Perry (69), effectively the points leader with top-ranked Tiger Woods sidelined by a knee injury.
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| Thursdays's Best |
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The par-5, 594-yard 17th hole was the easiest on Thursday with a 4.756 scoring average.
The par-4, 475-yard 12th hole was the toughest on Thursday with a 4.333 scoring average.
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Robert Allenby crushed his tee shot on the driveable par-4, 291-yard 5th hole, knocking it 293 yards into the left greenside bunker. The Aussie chipped in for eagle from the sand and gave us Thursday's best highlight on LIVE@. 
Could it be any round other than Hunter Mahan's 62? It's not just how he did it -- with an eagle on the first hole then eight birdies and a bogey -- but also how he didn't let a disappointing PGA Championship get him down. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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MAHAN GOES LOW AFTER SWITCHING PUTTERS
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
PARAMUS, N.J. -- Hunter Mahan wanted to get it all out of his system.
He wanted to distance himself from those dismal rounds of 81 and 79 he shot at the PGA Championship two weeks ago. He wanted to forget the ill-advised words he had spoken about the Ryder Cup.
So the best thing to do was let his clubs do the talking, and the 9-under 62 he shot during the first round of The Barclays spoke volumes about Mahan as the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup kicked off a Ridgewood Country Club.
The round of one eagle, eight birdies and a lone bogey was the lowest opener on TOUR this year and marked the fifth time the talented 26-year-old had shot 62, including one in The Barclays last year. Mahan owns a four-stroke advantage over Paul Casey and the rest of a field that features 136 of the top 144 players in the FedExCup.
Mahan, who entered the week ranked 31st in the FedExCup standings that will determine the winner of the $10 million bonus next month, couldn't help but take a small measure of redemption from Thursday's performance.
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| When else has Hunter Mahan held or had a share of the 18-hole lead? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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PUTTERING AROUND
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
PARAMUS, N.J. -- Bo Van Pelt knew the minute he sat the putter on the ground that it was gone. Broken. Wobbling.
So, he grabbed a backup from his locker -- one that looked and felt a lot like the fallen one.
Made what he had to on the first. Dropped a bomb -- think 40 feet -- on the third. First bomb, he said, that's fallen for him in six months.
With that, he was off and cruising to an opening 4-under-par 67 at The Barclays.
"It was a good thing I guess the other one was broken,'' Van Pelt said with a grin.
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MARQUEE PAIRING MAKE THEIR MARK
By Melanie Hauster, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
PARAMUS, N.J. -- It was the pairing worthy of the big boards in Times Square.
The top three guys on the working FedExCup points list, not necessarily in order.
Winner of three PGA TOUR events this year, one Kenny Perry.
Winner of three of the last six majors, including the last two, one Padraig Harrington.
And, of course, the perennial people's choice, one Phil Mickelson.
Huge gallery. Tough day. Entire pairing upstaged by Hunter Mahan's opening 62.
Oh well.
"(Caddie) Ronan (Flood) had to remind me that I wouldn't be as good Thursday as I would be Sunday,'' Harrington said.
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| What the leaders said... | ||||||||||||||||
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| Read full interview transcripts | |||||
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GARCIA COMPETES WITH HEAVY HEART
The first is in memory of the 153 people who died in Wednesday's plane crash in Madrid. The second, in honor of his godmother, Ana Portales, who lost her brother Monday.
"Something you never wish would have happened, happened in Madrid,'' said Garcia, who is from Castellon. "As a Spanish man, it's a sad week.''
Garcia said he is not aware of any friends or acquaintances who were on the flight.
| 8 | Years since the first-round leader won The Barclays. Dennis Paulson last did so in 2000. |
| 15 | Number of starts since Bo Van Pelt has finished inside the top 10 at a tournament. |
| 71.71 | First-round scoring average after the inaugural day of competition at Ridgewood Country Club, a par-71 course. |
"I just know what's happened,'' he said. "I don't know exactly who was in it. It doesn't matter, even if you don't know anybody, it's something that you don't want to happen.
"It's going to be very tough for the families and everybody around it. It doesn't matter, I wear it because I feel like I want to wear it and I should wear it for the families and all of the people that died.''
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OH BABY, IT'S BEEN A MEMORABLE WEEK FOR HENRY
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
PARAMUS, N.J. -- Sure, he bogeyed two of his last three holes on Thursday afternoon during the first round of The Barclays.
J.J. Henry couldn't be too disappointed with the round of 70 he shot at Ridgewoood Country Club, though.
After all, until Sunday, he didn't even know whether he'd get to play in the first event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. Oh, and then there was that little matter of the birth of his second child, Carson, on Monday.
Henry had played his way into The Barclays when he closed with a 62 to tie for fourth at the Wyndham Championship. He rushed to the airport and flew home to Fort Worth where 7-pound, 9-ounce Carson was born at 4:36 p.m. Monday.
Henry's wife, Lee, and Carson were able t to come home from the hospital on Tuesday night. So he flew to New Jersey at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday and was able to practice, but not play because of the pro-am.
"I walked a couple of holes late last night but my ace man (caddy Matt Hauser) took care of it for me," Henry said. "He did a good job. I am a little tired obviously, but it's an exciting week to shoot 62 Sunday and have your second child Monday.
"I hope I can just try to carry the momentum on."
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WEIR'S FACIAL HAIR
It appears Mike Weir is extremely serious about this whole playoff thing.
After his recent Playoffs commercial with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky --who suggested that his fellow Canadian Weir wear a playoff beard like the NHLers do during the Stanley Cup playoffs -- Weir now actually does have a beard.
It's certainly not as full as the fake ZZ Top beard he donned during the commercial shoot -- in fact, his real beard appears to be in the early stages of development -- but it's there.
By the way, you can check out Weir's commercial with his fake beard by clicking here and here.
To read a running log and behind-the-scenes notes from the first round at Ridgewood Country Club, click here.
INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
XM Satellite Radio announcer Fred Albers offers these observations from Thursday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
Steve Stricker slammed his driver into the turf and walked off the third tee in Wednesday's pro-am a very frustrated golfer. The defending champion is usually the most mild-mannered man on the PGA TOUR but he's grinding to make the Ryder Cup team and is in the midst of a long run of tournaments. "I'm OK," said Stricker, "I'm just frustrated with my driver right now. But hey, it's only Wednesday," he said with a wink and a laugh. Stricker then opened tournament play with a 3-under 68 and hit 10 of 14 fairways.
Ridgewood Country Club is a challenging course but the real challenge begins with the drive to the tournament site. Left turns are not allowed. Instead, New Jersey uses something affectionately named "jug handles." Drivers turn right at intersections and takes an access road which loops around to execute the left hand turn.
Paramedics accompanied Anthony Kim in his opening round after the two-time tournament champion suffered a bee sting on the third hole. Kim is allergic to bee stings and it was a potentially dangerous situation. Kim finished the round shooting 1-under 70.
THINGS TO WATCH ON FRIDAY
1. Players outside the top 120. Jesper Parnevik is currently the only player outside the top 120 in the FedExCup standings who is in the top-10 through one round at The Barclays. If the rest of the players want to continue in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, they must improve on Day 2.
2. Who will shoot sub-par scores? In the morning vs. afternoon battle, 24 players carded rounds below par in the morning while just 20 did in the afternoon. Of the players in the top-10 in the FedExCup standings, four (Geoff Ogilvy, Padraig Harrington, Stewart Cink and Ryuji Imada) couldn't better par 71.
3. Dudley Hart. This is Hart's 12th appearance in The Barclays and he's only missed the cut in one of those starts. He did well as usual on Thursday, shooting a 4-under 67 in the first round. However, Hart has never finished inside the top 10 at this event. Will things change this year?
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