Australia's Buckle leads at Miccosukee Championship
By Joe Chemycz, PGA TOUR Staff
MIAMI, Fla. -- Andrew Buckle may have grown up in Australia, but the 27-year old from Queensland certainly feels at home at this week's Miccosukee Championship. Buckle has found comfort in the humidity and on the Bermuda grass of South Florida, nearly identical playing conditions to those of his hometown on the Gold Coast, a plane trip that would take nearly 22 hours and cover approximately 9,500 miles.
"It's familiar and gives you good memories," said Buckle after staking himself to the first-round lead with a 7-under-par 64. "I haven't been back in a while but it definitely helps."
Buckle was helped by a solid all-around game that had him match his season-best score and establish a one-stroke lead over Boise's Troy Merritt.
Josh Broadaway, he of the rare cross-handed grip, posted four birdies to begin his day and finished with a 5-under 66 to grab a share of third place with Brendan Steele, Monday qualifier Justin Smith of Virginia and Brian Smock.
Seven players are tied for seventh, three shots back of the leader.
"My game's been there for a while," said Buckle, who enters the final full-field event of the Nationwide Tour schedule at No. 28 on the money list. "Today I was just relaxed and trusted my lines a lot better and trusted my swing a lot better. That was the big difference."
Buckle has made 18 of 24 cuts this year but is on the outside looking in when it comes to "THE 25" leading money winners who will earn PGA TOUR cards for 2010 after next week's season-ending Tour Championship at Daniel Island, S.C.
"I don't think there is any pressure this week," he said of the chase to break into the top-25. "You know you have to play well and just try to do the best that you can every day, on every shot. That's all I can do, really. I just do my best and try not to think about it."
Buckle was on cruise control at the Miccosukee Golf & Country Club, putting together a bogey-free round that featured six birdie putts inside of 10 feet.
His lead is one over the rookie Merritt, a playoff winner of the Mexico Open last month. Merritt, unlike Buckle, has rarely seen Bermuda grass in his days and is playing his first career tournament in the state of Florida.
"I haven't played much on Bermuda but I understand the basics of it," said Merritt, who is No. 33 on the money list. "I don't try to overdo it. You can over-read these greens. I try to look at it and figure out what might happen in the first half or two-thirds and then see what it might do around the hole. With the grain and such, it might look like it's breaking right but the grain goes left, or vice versa, so a lot of times it's just a guessing game."
Not many would have guessed that Merritt would be on the verge of joining the PGA TOUR barely a year removed from a highly-decorated college career that saw him win a total of 21 tournaments in his two years at Winona State and Boise State.
"There's really no pressure on me because I'm not even supposed to be in this position. I should be in the 100s or the 200s," he said. "If you would have told me at the beginning of the year I'd be in this position with a chance to go to the Tour Championship and earn my card, I would have said you're crazy. At this point, everything's just gravy."
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First-Round Notes:
• Dave Schultz (77) withdrew after the first round. Schultz is No. 27 on the money list.
• Andrew Buckle's 7-under 64 matched the lowest opening-round score in tournament history. Mark Hensby (2003), Grant Waite (2003), Bryce Molder (2004), Tim Wilkinson (2004) and Gary Christian (2006) also shot 64s to open play.
• No first-round leader has gone on to win this tournament in the previous five years.
• Paul Stankowski had the best birdie-eagle streak in tournament history on Thursday. Stankowski put together a B-E-B-B streak starting at No. 4 today.
• Patrick Sheehan (68) had two eagles today, at the par-4 7th hole and the par-5, 10th hole. It's only the third time in the tournament's six years that a player has posted two eagles in a single round.
• Marco Dawson shot an even-par 71, thanks to 18 pars.
• Jin Park (70) is making his 28th start of the season -- he is the only player on Tour to play in every single event this year. Park enters the week No. 90 on the money and in need of a good week to make it to the Tour Championship next week at Daniel Island, S.C. He and his wife, Judy, are expecting their second child on Monday.
• Leading money-winner Michael Sim of Australia is making his first start on Tour since earning a three-win promotion at the Christmas In October Classic in Kansas City in late August. Sim has already set a Tour record for most money won in a single season ($527,079). He did not make it into the PGA TOUR field in Las Vegas this week and posted a 1-under 70 in the opening round. He is tied for 43rd.
• This is the last full-field event on the 2009 schedule and 22 of the top-25 money winners are entered. The only ones missing from the group are No. 9 Garrett Willis, No. 10 Justin Bolli and No. 13 Garth Mulroy.
• Last week's winner, Chris Baryla, shot a 1-over 72. He is tied for 94th place.
• Today's scoring average on the par-71 layout was 70.931.
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