Three tied for first day lead

Briny Baird, Iain Steel and Dave Barr shared the first-round lead at the $450,000 BUY.COM Monterrey Open after shooting 6-under-par 66s on Thursday.

Kevin Johnson, Kent Jones, Geoffrey Sisk and Eric Rustand are one stroke back, while 15 other golfers are within two shots of the leaders.

Sisk and Rustand were two of only five golfers who played in the afternoon to crack the top 22 spots on the leaderboard. A total of 50 golfers broke par in the morning, compared to only 29 in the afternoon.

Baird, who finished 186th on the PGA TOUR money list in 1999, jump-started his round with birdies on his first four holes. He missed extending the streak when he missed a 5-footer for birdie on his fifth hole after a precisely played 3-iron.

"I started off this way earlier in the season and I did not quite hold it together," Baird said. "I don’t think there was any reason. I don’t get uptight. Obviously, I got a little anxious on my fifth hole."

Baird then made a bogey that "felt like a double bogey" on the sixth hole after catching a tree in the backswing of his second shot. But Baird, who tied for 28th in the Monterrey Open in 1997, rallied with birdies on two of his next four holes. He then followed another bogey with a birdie and capped his round with a 2-foot putt on the final hole to finish 6 under.

Steel, a non-exempt member of the BUY.COM TOUR, is playing in his first event this season after finding out late Wednesday afternoon that he made the field as an alternate. The Malaysian golfer immediately took advantage of the opportunity as he eagled the 494-yard, par-5 first hole after knocking a 3-iron to within 3 feet of the cup. Steel's only mistake came when he 3-putted from 15 feet on No. 5.

Steel’s game heated up at the turn as he followed Baird’s lead -- making birdies on the same four holes beginning at No. 10. He hit 12-of-14 fairways on the 7,061-yard Club Campestre course.

"Usually when I start off well I fall asleep for the rest of the round. But lately I have been playing well on the back nine," Steel said. "I think hitting the fairways was the key. The rough is quite penal. The fairways are perfect."

Steel finished his scoring by making a downhill, 10-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole. "The hole got in the way there. If not I would have 3-putted," admitted Steel, who gave most of the credit for his putting to the local caddie on his bag this week.

The 48-year-old Barr, a two-time winner on the PGA TOUR, had his best round of the season after hitting 16-of-18 greens. Like Steel, he made an eagle on his first hole of the day.

"I have played very good lately. It's just nice to be hitting the ball like you expect to hit it," said Barr, who last played Club Campestre in 1971 at a Pan American University tournament. "I don't remember it being so narrow back then."

Ian Leggatt had the shot of the day, a hole-in-one on the 16th hole. Leggatt used an 8-iron from 164 yards to record the ace, which was the fourth of the BUY.COM TOUR season.

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