Verizon Heritage: Rd. 1

text size

Benc/Getty Images

Boo Weekley is looking for his third straight Verizon Heritage title this week at Harbour Town.

PGATOUR.COM Instant Access

Verizon Heritage

PGATOUR.COM's The Live Report is on the scene at the Verizon Heritage and we'll provide updates all day long for each round, so check back often. (All timestamps are Eastern Time.) PGA TOUR Shot Tracker | Live Scoring | PGA TOUR Network | Facebook | Twitter

WINDSWEPT DAY (5:48 p.m.): Another week, more wind. That's been pretty much the story every week for every stop on the PGA TOUR this season and the Verizon Heritage is no exception.

Davis Love III, who has won here five times in his career, knows all too well about how windy it can get at Harbour Town and was slightly frustrated by his round of 1-under 70.

"It never was consistent in direction," Love said. "It always swirls around here and you just have to be patient.

"I got flustered a couple of times, but it was a good start in some high winds. Hopefully tomorrow it'll be calm and I can get started nice and early." -- Brian Wacker

THIRD ROUND NEARING CONCLUSION (5:35 p.m.): As play winds down at the Harbour Town Golf Links, the Quarterdeck is filling up.

Only steps away from the 18th green, the music drifts across the harbor, dying in a whisper just behind the 18th green. Women in sun dresses and men in Vineyard Vines best sip cocktails after a fine day of watching golf.

I spotted a few caddies whose days had come to an end making their way over for a deserved respite. As you trip along the bulkhead of the marina where millions of dollars of luxury crafts are docked, laughter and music mingle in the air. On a clear day like Thursday, only the most cynical can avoid a smile. It is a Jimmy Buffet weekend for players, fans, caddies and even broadcasters with a taste for the finer things in life. -- John Maginnes

FUNK STRUGGLING (5:20 p.m.): Champions Tour player Fred Funk is making just his second appearance on the PGA TOUR this season and unfortunately it's going a lot like his first when he shot 78 and withdrew from the Transitions Championship. Today, Funk was 6 over with bogeys on five of his last six holes, including three in a row at one point.

On the Champions Tour, however, Funk has had much more success. In his last two events -- the AT&T Champions Classic and the Toshiba Classic -- Funk finished T18 and T4. -- Brian Wacker

OLLIE'S BATTLE (4:55 p.m.): Jose Maria Olazabal is playing for just the second time this season on the PGA TOUR, having missed the cut at last week's Masters. So far this week, he's off to a good start at 3 under.

Olazabal

Playing on a Major Medical Extension after being plagued by rheumatism last year, Olazabal needs to earn just under $800,00 in 24 events.

The last couple of years have been troublesome for the two-time Masters champion, who last won on TOUR at the 2002 Buick Invitational.

"I will have to try to play as many tournaments as I can, but the tournaments that the body allows me to play," Olazabal said late last year. "Sometimes I spent more time in the physio truck than on the driving range. It's more or less the intensity. If I play 18 holes back home, the rest of the day is off. The days I don't play golf, I hit balls for a couple of hours, and that's pretty much it.

"The thing is that it's very hard to regain the rhythm of play, competition. Obviously when you get older, it becomes a little bit more difficult. You don't have the energy level that you have in your 20s. I love the game. You know, I miss -- to be honest, when I'm at home and I cannot practice, when I watch the boys play those events, there is something inside that is urging me to keep going and to keep trying." -- Brian Wacker

TRIPPED UP (4:35 p.m.): Over on the Nationwide Tour, former PGA TOUR regular Tripp Eisenhour was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard earlier today. Eisenhour signed for a 4 when he in fact had a 5 on the par-4 fifth hole at Jennings Mills Country Club in Georgia in the first round of the Athens Regional Foundation Classic. -- Brian Wacker

MORE LATE MOVERS (4:20 p.m.): Stephen Leaney, Tim Petrovic and Jeff Maggert are all making moves on the leaderboard with Leaney the closest to the lead at 4 under.

Leaney is also the player among that group that could use a good finish the most. He's playing this season on a Major Medical Extension after an injury cut short his season in July of last year. Leaney has 11 events to earn just under $700,000. This is just his second event of the year after he missed the cut at the Transitions Championship. -- Brian Wacker

A BIG EASY (3:58 p.m.): Ernie Els, who was second here in 2007 and twice has finished third, is off to another good start at Harbour Town. Els made the turn in 33 after birdieing four of his last six holes. That has Els, who has just one win on the PGA TOUR since 2004, just four shots off the current pace and in good position. -- Brian Wacker

JANZEN'S FLAT STICK (3:40 p.m.): There are a couple of promising items of note for Lee Janzen, who opened with a 6-under 65 to sit one off the lead. First, a player age 40 or above has won this tournament five times. Janzen, who has played this tournament every year since 1991 except one, is 44. Second, he needed only 23 putts on Thursday.

In case you're wondering, the lowest number of total putts in one round is 18, set by a half dozen players. David Frost owns the PGA TOUR's all-time 72-hole putting record with 92 total putts in 2005 at, where else, Harbour Town. The old mark was also set at Harbour Town when Kenny Knox had just 93 putts in 1989. -- Brian Wacker

RELAXED FEELING (3:28 p.m.): Harbour Town has its own set of challenges, but many players are feeling much more relaxed after a pressure-packed week at the Masters.

"Playing Augusta is always nerve wracking," said Trevor Immelman, who is two off the lead after a 5-under 66. "Last year this time I was actually just running around New York City. But that was a bit of a highlight for me. It's nice to come here this week and spend time with the family."

Davis Love III, who is looking for a sixth tartan jacket here, agreed.

"It's always a breath of fresh air coming here," added Love, who said he used to play well in this event because he was more relaxed after playing the Masters the week before. Now he feels good, he said, because he's trying hard to get back to the Masters, which he would do instantly with a win here this week. -- Brian Wacker

CEJKA HEALTHY AGAIN (3:15 p.m.): Alex Cejka felt pretty good after shooting a 7-under 64 earlier today, but he also feels healthy, for the most part, which is something the German hasn't felt in some time.

Last year, Cejka had a myriad of injuries and underwent neck surgery in September, which caused him to miss about two months of the season.

"I pinched a nerve at the British Open last year and just lost all my strength in the left side," Cejka said. "It was really a muscle spasm and I lost a lot of muscles in the three weeks [after the British]. And they had to go in and just did a fusion between C6 and C7 on the neck."

Cejka's still not fully recovered from the surgery -- "I'm about 85 percent," he said -- but he admitted his body feels pretty good right now and that he's able to practice a lot more. So far, so good. -- Brian Wacker

OWEN IN CONTENTION: (3:00 p.m.): Add Greg Owen's name to the list of contenders here in the first round. Owen is now 4 under through his first 10 holes after making back-to-back birdies at Nos. 9 and 10.

Owen, like current leader Alex Cejka, has never won on the PGA TOUR with his best finish a T2 at the 2006 Bay Hill Invitational, where a three-putt from 3 1/2 feet on the 71st hole. So far so good with the putter this week, however. Owen has nary a three-putt and has one-putted six of his 10 holes. -- Brian Wacker

WEEKLEY UPDATE (2:40 p.m.): Two-time defending champion Boo Weekley teed off a little more than an hour ago and so far has had a pretty uneventful round with an opening bogey on No. 10, followed by a birdie on the 11th. So far, he's even through six holes.

Weekley's been working hard on his putting with short-game coach Mike Taylor and says he feels it's finally where it needs to be, but so far today he's already taken 11 putts.

Putting has always plagued Weekley -- remember, he won this tournament two years in a row with phenomenal chip-ins. Last year, he ranked 188th on the PGA TOUR in putting average. This year, he's 170th. -- Brian Wacker

EVERYONE ON THE COURSE (2:28 p.m.): All players are either on the course or have completed their first round here at the Verizon Heritage, but there isn't a lot of movement at the top of the leaderboard with Alex Cejka's early 7-under 64 holding up. George McNeill, however, is 3 under through his first six holes, while Jim Furyk, the fifth career leading money winner in this event, is 2 under through his first five holes. -- Brian Wacker

A sip of Maginnes

ROCK AND A HARD PLACE (2:15 p.m. ET): Remember "Pebblegate"? In 2004, Ted Purdy and Stewart Cink were in a playoff here at the Verizon Heritage. On the dogleg-left, par-4 16th, Cink hit his drive into the dogleg and found a waste area. A waste area looks like a bunker and smells like a bunker, but is not a bunker. There is a little less sand in the unmanicured area and no rakes to smooth foot prints. Cink wasn't completely sure if he was going to be able to remove a loose pebble that was just behind his golf ball and certainly would have effected his shot. Fully within the rules, he was able to remove the pesky little projectile and play his shot to the green. To call what happened a controversy may be going a little too far, but it is a situation that will not be repeated. The sand to the left of the 16th these days is a bunker and not a waste area. However, that conversion came too late for Purdy, who had to wait until the following year's EDS Byron Nelson Classic to collect his first career win. The last couple of years have been tough for Purdy, who found himself back at q-School last year. In spite of a double bogey at the 18th hole today, however, he is again in the mix with an opening-round 67. Perhaps this is the year that he finally dons the tartan jacket and, as they say in the low country, wouldn't that be purdy. --John Maginnes

TOUGH FINISH (2:05 p.m.): The 452-yard par-4 18th hole historically ranks as the hardest at Harbour Town and today is no different with it ranking No. 1 so far with a stroke average of 4.588 with three birdies in 68 attempts.

But that's not the only difficult hole down the stretch. Currently, the 185-yard par-3 17th is seventh-hardest, while the 395-yard par-4 16th is playing fourth toughest. The 192-yard par-3 14th, meanwhile, is currently playing as the second-hardest hole at Harbour Town. -- Brian Wacker

BABY BOY (1:50 p.m.): Johnson Wagner withdrew from the Verizon Heritage prior to the start of the first round, but he had a very good reason. His wife Katie gave birth to the couple's first child, Graham Clifton, at 5:07 a.m. today.

Graham was originally due on April 21, but during a pre-tournament interview before his title defense at Houston the soon-to-be daddy said he had a hunch his son would arrive during the Verizon Heritage. Graham weighed in at 7 pounds, 14 ounces. -- Helen Ross

CAREER LEADERS AT HARBOUR TOWN: (1:35 p.m.): It shows you just how much times have changed in golf in terms of money when Boo Weekley ranks sixth in all-time earnings at Harbour Town, especially considering the five guys ahead of him have been playing there for better than 50 combined years and one of them, Davis Love III, has won the tournament five times. Check out the chart below. -- Brian Wacker

HOW'S HARBOUR TOWN PLAYING? (1:15 p.m.): Judging by how the leaders have played the course so far, it looks like Harbour Town isn't playing all that difficult. Don't be fooled, however. This is one of the toughest tracks on the PGA TOUR -- last year it ranked 23rd most difficult.

Just ask Parker McLachlin. He's in with a 9-over 80 today after a back-nine 41 and three penalty strokes on three different holes.

McLachlin got off to a bad start right from the start, hitting his first tee shot of the day right of right on No. 10 before eventually making a triple on the 427-yard par-4 hole. Things didn't get much better, despite a birdie on No. 11. McLachlin closed out the back nine with two bogeys and a double bogey on three of his last four holes. The double on 18 -- historically the most difficult hole on the course -- came when McLachlin found the water on his approach shot.

On the front, McLachlin had a similar stretch with two bogeys and a double bogey sandwiched around a birdie. The double came on No. 6, where he found the water off the tee well to the right of the fairway.

McLachlin wasn't the only one to struggle, however. Buick Invitational and Honda Classic runner-up John Rollins also shot an 80, making three double bogeys in the process. -- Brian Wacker

IMMELMAN COMING THROUGH (12:55 p.m.): Trevor Immelman never threatened the lead in trying to defend his Masters title last week at Augusta National, but he's doing so here at Harbour Town this week. The South African, who is one of our sleeper picks this week, has joined the fray at 6 under through 16 holes and is looking for his first win since ... last year's Masters. -- Brian Wacker

MCILROY UPDATE (12:35 p.m.): It looks like Rory McIlroy has finally run into a course that has his number. The 19-year-old hasn't finished outside the top 20 on the PGA TOUR this season, but is off to a slow start at Harbour Town, where he's 1 over through 13 holes.

McIlroy has just three rounds over par this season -- in the second and third round of the windblown Shell Houston Open and in the second round of last week's Masters. -- Brian Wacker

JANZEN ALSO GOES LOW (12:25 p.m.): Just when it looked like Alex Cejka would have some breathing room at the Verizon Heritage, Lee Janzen turned in a round of 6-under 65 to sit one shot back.

Janzen tore up the front nine -- his second nine after starting on the back -- with five birdies and no bogeys on his way to a 31. He had just one bogey -- at the par-4 13th -- on the back.

The former PLAYERS Championship winner and two-time U.S. Open champion, who finished outside the top 150 on the money list last season and is in the field as a past champion from his U.S. Open victory, is having a nice little resurgence of late after a sluggish start to his season.

After missing three of his first four cuts, Janzen finished T13 in Puerto Rico and T17 at Bay Hill. His 65 on Thursday is his second-lowest round of the year and only his fourth in the 60s this season. -- Brian Wacker

HOW LOW IS LOW? (12:05 p.m.): Where does Alex Cejka's 7-under 64 start rank in terms of lowest rounds on the PGA TOUR this season? Pretty good, as you'll see in the chart below. -- Mike McAllister

GOING LOW AT HARBOUR TOWN (11:55 a.m.): Alex Cejka just capped off a round of 7-under 64 to take the early clubhouse lead at Harbour Town. That's just three shots off the course record of David Frost set in 1994 and only two off the lowest 18-hole start here. It's also just one stroke shy of Cejka's career-low round of 63, which he shot in the second round of the 2004 Booz Allen Classic.

As for the tournament itself, 21 times someone has shot all four rounds in the 60s here, the latest coming in 2007 when Boo Weekley won. The lowest 72-hole score here, meanwhile, is 19-under 265, shot by Loren Roberts in the 1996 tournament. -- Brian Wacker

Here's a look at Cejka's first-round scorecard. To review his round shot-by-shot with Shot Tracker,click here.

OGILVIE OUT (11:40 a.m.): Joe Ogilvie has withdrawn from the tournament due to an injury.

It's been a rocky year for the 2007 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee winner. In nine previous events, Ogilvie has missed the cut five times with a season-best finish of T42 at the Transitions Championship. -- Brian Wacker

CEJKA OUT FAST (11:25 a.m.): Not too many folks could have foreseen Alex Cejka taking it low this week -- he's missed 4 of 10 cuts and and withdrew from another tournament. But he's also got two T13s and so far today is 6 under through 16 holes and the early leader.

Cejka, a 38-year-old journeyman German, has never won on the PGA TOUR, but he's come close. He has a pair of runner-up finishes ... at two events that no longer exist -- The INTERNATIONAL and the B.C. Open. -- Brian Wacker

BOO BUGGED (11:05 a.m.): Two-time defending champion Boo Weekley has found the answers to Harbour Town. He's still looking for the solution to fending off the pesky no-see-um bugs that bother the players during the round. Two weeks ago when he was in Seattle, a club professional offered a unique solution: Listerine.

"He said just take a little napkin, pour a little Listerine on it and pat yourself down on your sleeves where your skin is showing, and just pat it around the side of your ears and everywhere, and you should be fine," Weekley said. "Good thing is, if you've got bad breath, you lick your skin."

Weekley tried it with the mouthwash in the club's locker room, but had little luck. Turns out he was using Scope, not Listerine.

"Why would you even put Scope in there if Listerine works?" Weekley said. -- Stan Awtrey

RIGHT AT HOME (11:00 a.m.): This is like a homecoming week for Jonathan Byrd, a South Carolina native and graduate of Clemson University.

"I don't know anybody who doesn't enjoy coming home to golf in front of their friends, family, people you've seen growing up, high school golf coach, maybe college golf coach," Byrd said. "When I come to Hilton Head I feel that support."

Byrd is working through some changes in his game. He switched instructors a month after the FedEx Cup playoffs, going with Orlando-based Mike Bender, who also works with Zach Johnson. Byrd also changed to different driver and golf ball.

The result, Byrd said, has been more consistent and is hitting the ball farther off the tee.

"All those things came together to produce more distance," Byrd said. "But my swing has been the biggest change. You gain 15-20 yards, you've got feel pretty good about that."

Byrd ranks 94th in FedEx Cup points and 88th in earnings, but feels is game is on track.

"I've had a good year up to this point," he said. "If you look at the money list or all my finishes, you might not agree, but I'm on track. I'm excited about my game more than I ever have been in my whole career." -- Stan Awtrey

Groups We're Watching

Zach Johnson, Camilo Villegas, Trevor Immelman These three world-class players are decompressing after the year's first major but still looking for a win. Tee time: 8:20 am ET. Track 'em Davis Love III, Boo Weekley, Steve Flesch Love is a five-time winner at Hilton Head, Weekley is the two-time defending champ and Flesch loves the place. Tee time: 1 p.m. ET. Track 'em Justin Leonard, Ernie Els, Rory Sabbatini Leonard won here in '02; Els was second in '07; Sabbatini is playing here for first time since 2001. Tee time: 1:10 p.m. ET. Track 'em

Live Essentials

Follow every shot with our newest application The only place on the Internet for real-time live scoring Listen to expert commentary on the PGA TOUR Network News, notes, stats and analysis during each round