First round: Overton leads at 7 under; Wie shoots 1 over

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Jeff Overton's sizzling 7-under 65 was his best first round in 23 starts on the PGA TOUR this season.

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Michelle Wie put herself in contention to make her first cut in eight tries on the PGA TOUR, shooting a 1-over 73 in Thursday's opening round of the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open that left her eight strokes behind leader Jeff Overton at Montreux Golf and Country Club.

Overton, a former all-Big Ten golfer at Indiana, birdied four of the first five holes and made eight birdie putts on the day -- seven from 10 feet or closer -- to go with a lone bogey for a 7-under 65 and a two-shot lead over Harrison Frazar, Brian Davis, Marco Dawson and John Merrick at 67.

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Leaderboard: First round
Leader's scorecard
First-round notebook
Friday's tee times
Inside the field
Inside the course

VIDEO

Michelle Wie: Holes 1-5
Wie: Holes 6-9
Wie: Holes 10-14
Wie: Holes 15-18

Omar Uresti, who aced the 176-yard, par-3 16th, was in a group at 68 that included 1987 Masters winner Larry Mize

Playing on the men's tour for the first time since January 2007, Wie had three birdies, four bogeys and rallied to save par on several holes at the 7,472-yard mountain course at Montreux on the edge of the Sierra Nevada.

"I shot a pretty decent round today," she said. "I felt like I grinded really well. I've just got to shoot low tomorrow."

Wie, playing on a sponsor's exemption, has failed to make it to the weekend in her seven previous bids on the PGA TOUR. The cut has averaged even par in the nine previous years of the Reno tournament, which runs opposite the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, where the higher-ranked players are playing in Ohio this week.

Wie hit one pin on the fly from 65 yards and another on one hop from 85 yards, the latter leading to a 6-foot birdie putt on the 616-yard, par-5 ninth that brought a smile to the 18-year-old and a fist pump as the crowd cheered.

More than 400 people -- the biggest gallery on the course -- crowded around the first tee where Wie drove the ball into the left rough. She managed to hit her approach 195 yards onto the front of the green, but carded a bogey after she left her first putt 20 feet short of the hole.

She also bogeyed the par-4 fifth before she hit her approach 160 yards to within 5 feet of the pin and sank the birdie on the par-4 sixth. She saved par on the difficult 220-yard, par-3 No. 7 after blasting out of the sand to within 13 feet and did it again on No. 8 with a two putt from 50 feet after she hit a ponderosa pine tree off the tee and a deputy sheriff confiscated a cell phone from a fan who took her picture during her back swing from the rough.

On the back nine, she bogeyed the par-3 12th after hitting her tee shot in a bunker and averted another on the next hole with a 10-foot putt to save par. She missed the green on the par-3 16th and failed to convert a 10-foot par putt.

But she came back with a birdie on the par-5 17th after she drove the ball 316 yards and hit her third shot 57 yards to inside 2 feet of the pin. On the last hole, she made another sand save, again hitting inside 2 feet of the hole from a bunker fronting the green.

Wie said she wouldn't worry about making the cut on Friday. She said she has paid no attention to criticism from some LPGA Tour players and others for teeing it up again with the men.

"Whether it was the right decision or wrong decision, it is a decision I made," she said.

"I'm not going to think about what other people think about me. All I'm going to think about is how I'm going to shoot a better score tomorrow and how I'm going to shoot a low number and I think a low number will take care of everything."

TRIVIA QUESTION

Of the nine winners of the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, just two have gone wire-to-wire in claiming victory at Montreux Golf and Country Club. Can you name those two players? And for extra credit, which one had the better score? See answers at the bottom of the page

Thursday's Best

EASIEST HOLE TOUGHEST HOLE The par-5, 518-yard 4th was the easiest with a first-round scoring average of 4.712. EAGLES: 3 BIRDIES: 51 PARS: 61 BOGEYS: 15 OTHERS: 2 The par-4, 491-yard 14th was the toughest with a first-round scoring average of 4.348. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 9 PARS: 79 BOGEYS: 35 OTHERS: 9

SHOT OF THE DAY ROUND OF THE DAY The high point of Omar Uresti's 4-under 68 came at the par-3, 183-yard 16th when he produced an ace despite the pin being tucked in the left side of the green, with water protecting the front. It's the eighth hole-in-one in tournament history and the second in Uresti's TOUR career. What a start for first-round leader Jeff Overton. After an opening par, he reeled off four consecutive birdies on his way to a 7-under 65. He took full advantage of the four par-5s, with birdies on each of those holes. Check out his scorecard

HIGHER ALTITUDE=LONGER DRIVES

Know this: Reno, Nev. is approximately 4,500 feet above sea level. Now know this: Montreux Golf and Country Club is even higher, playing at nearly 5,000 feet above sea level.

Think that might help explain why the field seemed to be treating the first round like an elaborate long-distance driving contest?

Consider Bob Heintz, who started his round on the par-4, 494-yard 10th hole. He stepped up to hit his opening drive of the tournament and nailed a 435-yard drive. Wouldn't we all like to start our rounds just like that?

While Heintz' bomb was the longest of the day, there were some other impressive blasts at the 10th: Kirk Triplett's 393-yard drive; Alex Cejka's 392-yard drive; Patrick Sheehan's 387-yard drive and Rick Fehr's 382-yard drive rounded out the top five blows on Thursday.

Now consider this: The average driving distance on all drives struck Thursday was 292.6 yards. The TOUR average this year is 279.1. And remember -- the big-name players this week aren't even in Reno, but in Akron, Ohio, at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.

OVERTON'S HOT START
Compiled by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.

• Jeff Overton holds the first-round lead at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open -- it's the first time he has ever held the first-round lead of a PGA TOUR event.

One reason Overton leads is his play on the par-5s. He was able to birdie all four par 5s for the first time in the first round of a TOUR event. Overton finished his round with a 7-under 65 to tie his lowest mark in any round of a TOUR event. The last time he was 7-under was in the first round of the 2007 Frys.com Open benefiting Shriners Hospitals for Children.

• Overton had a streak of four straight birdies from the second hole to the fifth hole on Thursday. That was his career-best birdie streak in a first round, and it matched his second-longest streak of consecutive holes played under par in any round.

The longest such streak was in the 2006 Buick Open when Overton birdied five in a row (10th through 14th holes).

THINGS TO WATCH ON FRIDAY
1. The Wie watch. Michelle Wie has never made the cut in her seven previous PGA TOUR starts, but she at least put herself in position after her 1-over 73 on Thursday. But she'll need a better score on Friday, as history suggests below.

2. Even-par cut? Four times in the first nine events at Montreux, the cut has been even par. The highest cut came in 1999 and 2003 at 1-over; the lowest cut was 2-under in 2001.

3. Potential winds. In the final round last year, gusts to 35 mph played havoc with the scores, as only three players were able to break 70. Friday's forecast won't have winds that heavy, but it could reach 15-20 mph, which might cause players a little discomfort.

4. The 50-plus guys. Dick Mast, at age 57, shot a 3-under 69 andd is in position to make his first TOUR cut since the 2005 Sony Open in Hawaii. Dan Forsman, 50, shot an even-par 72 and is also in position to make the cut. Kenny Knox (who turns 52 in two weeks) and Lance Ten Broeck (52) are also in the field. Meanwhile, Larry Mize, who turns 50 in less than two months, is tied for sixth after an opening 4-under 68.

TRIVIA ANSWER

When Steve Flesch won the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open last year, he became the second player in tournament history to go wire-to-wire. The first was Vaughn Taylor in 2005 when he successfully defended the title he won the year before. Flesch finished at 15-under 273 last year, but Taylor was six strokes better (267) in 2005.