John Daly and Laura Davies combined for a best-ball round of 8-under-par 63 today for a share of the lead in the JCPenney Classic.
"Laura is hitting it so well I can feed off her," Daly said. "She's got a lot of confidence in her game, so hopefully I can feed off her and get some in mine."
Defending champions Steve Pate and Meg Mallon, and the team of Rory Sabbatini and Pat Hurst also opened with 63s on the Westin Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead course.
The teams of Greg Kraft-Michelle McGann, Frank Lickliter-Jan Stephenson, Tom Scherrer-Barb Mucha, and Tom Pernice-Michelle Estill shot 64s.
Daly, the two-time major champion troubled by alcohol and gambling problems, finished 158th on the PGA Tour money list this year with $186,215. He had only two top-20 finishes.
"I've been working really hard on my game and I'm not getting anywhere with it. It is really frustrating," Daly said. "But if I can get something here, something there. Just get a little confidence. I think that's what I need the most. I'm just taking baby steps, trying to get anything I can out of my game.
The challenge will be keeping it going Friday when the format switches to a modified alternate shot. In three years together in the team event, Daly and Davies are 29-under in the best-ball format and 9-under in the modified alternate shot.
"We do really well with the better-ball format," Davies said. "If we can just be solid the other two days. We just don't quite hole enough putts. If we can just putt half decent the rest of the week we are going to have a really big chance."
Pate and Mallon picked up where they left off last year when they finished with a tournament-record 29-under total.
"Last year was nice, we'll see if we can continue," Pate said.
The defending champions played in the first group of the day.
"It was kind of weird going out first," Mallon said. "But for a guy who lives on the West Coast and me, who does not like mornings, it was tough on us at 8:30 this morning. I think we both promptly missed the fairway on the first hole."
Meg Mallon/Steve Pate 31-32--63 8-under
Laura Davies/John Daly32-31--63
Pat Hurst/Rory Sabbatini33-30--63
Jan Stephenson/Frank Lickliter33-31--64 7-under
Barb Mucha/Tom Scherrer 31-33--64
Michelle Estill/Tom Pernice, Jr.31-33--64
Michelle McGann/Greg Kraft33-31--64
Se Ri Pak/Paul Azinger32-33--65 6-under
Maria Hjorth/Scott Gump 31-34--65
Juli Inkster/Justin Leonard 33-32--65
Donna Andrews/Mike Hulbert35-30--65
Jill McGill/J.L. Lewis32-33--65
Lisa Hackney/Chris DiMarco35-31--66 5-under
Marisa Baena/Mark Calcavecchia32-34--66
Kris Tschetter/John Cook32-34--66
Cindy Flom/Ted Tryba37-29--66
Wendy Doolan/Esteban Toledo 34-32--66
Charlotta Sorenstam/Robert Damron 34-32--66
Marta Figueras-Dotti/Brad Bryant35-31--66
Kim Saiki/Dennis Paulson35-31--66
Michele Redman/Skip Kendall 32-35--67 4-under
Cindy Figg-Currier/Tommy Armour III 33-34--67
Leta Lindley/Tommy Tolles 33-34--67
Rachel Hetherington/Rocco Mediate 33-34--67
Gloria Park/Jim Carter34-33--67
Lorie Kane/Mike Weir33-34--67
Kristi Albers/J.P. Hayes34-33--67
Dawn Coe-Jones/Dudley Hart33-34--67
Melissa McNamara/Mike Springer34-33--67
Leslie Spalding/Dicky Pride 34-33--67
Dina Ammaccapane/Omar Uresti35-32--67
Dale Eggeling/Carl Paulson37-31--68 3-under
Catriona Matthew/Dan Forsman34-34--68
Wendy Ward/Mark Brooks36-32--68
Annika Sorenstam/Scott Hoch 35-33--68
Chris Johnson/Steve Lowery35-33--68
A.J. Eathorne/Rich Beem 36-32--68
Janice Moodie/Steve Flesch34-34--68
Joan Pitcock/Bill Glasson 35-33--68
Catrin Nilsmark/Chris Perry 35-33--68
Annette DeLuca/Jerry Kelly34-34--68
Tina Barrett/Fred Funk33-35--68
Jackie Gallagher-Smith/David Toms 35-34--69 2-under
Nancy Scranton/Jonathan Kaye35-34--69
Dottie Pepper/Jeff Sluman 36-33--69
Emilee Klein/Stewart Cink 35-34--69
Maggie Will/Barry Cheesman35-35--70 1-under
Cindy McCurdy/Franklin Langham36-34--70
Carin Koch/Jay Don Blake38-33--71 even
Jane Crafter/Kenny Perry37-35--72 1-over
Amy Fruhwirth/Clarence Rose 34-38--72
Laura Philo/Gabriel Hjertstedt36-36--72
