Lundstrom leads after opening 66

David Lundstrom never has trouble identifying the major weakness of his golf game. Fixing his poor putting is another matter.

"It can get you staring at the ceiling a lot of nights, I can tell you that," Lundstrom said today after carding a 6-under-par 66 for the first-round lead in the $1.3 million Home Depot Invitational.

Lundstrom, ranked 73rd on the Senior PGA Tour with 30.04 putts per round, needed only 25 strokes on the big greens at TPC Piper Glen to card his best round of the season. He held a one-shot edge over money leader and defending Home Depot champion Bruce Fleisher and Joe Inman.

Fleisher birdied his final hole for his 67, while Inman, 1-under through 12 holes, birdied four of his last six to get to 5-under.

Fleisher was able to get in a good round despite a sleepless night spent worrying about his father Herbert, who is dying of pancreatic cancer.

"It gets pretty emotional," Fleisher said. "Unless it really affects you, people don't really understand it. He has very few days left, but for me to sit at home is not good for anybody."

Ray Floyd, Andy North and Isao Aoki were in a group of eight golfers at 4-under.

Lundstrom said he made a few putting adjustments two weeks ago that helped him finish fourth in Las Vegas and led to his good opening here. But he refused to discuss them, citing superstition.

"I've got two or three little things going and if I keep doing it another couple days I'll talk about it," Lundstrom said. "I don't want to jinx myself."

In addition to his improved putting, Lundstrom left the 6,820-yard layout feeling good about his overall game when he carded three straight birdies on the three finishing holes.

"That's something you think you're going to do all the time but you don't," he said of his birdies on Nos. 16-18.

Four of Lundstrom's birdie putts on a sunny day in the low 80s were from 12 feet, while he made a tricky 7-footer for birdie on the par-5, 16th hole.

"Normally I miss those regularly," he said of his putt on No. 16. "I'm 73rd in the putting stats, you know I'm missing them regularly."

Lundstrom's two birdies on the front side were putts of less than 3 feet.

Lundstrom is one of the longer hitters off the tee, but admitted his putting has kept him from winning in his third full season on the 50-and-over circuit.

"I don't care how good a guy hits the ball if you don't make a few putts, not only is your score not what you want but your frame of mind is so bad," he said. "If you start making a few putts it's a whole new world."

Jim Holtgrieve, who finished in a tie for second here last year, had a mediocre round going before finishing 4-under over the final three holes for his 68. Holtgrieve's strong finish was keyed by an eagle on the par-5 16th hole.

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page