Journeymen take first day honours

With most of the big names sitting this one out, a pair of relative unknowns topped the leaderboard in the first SEI Pennsylvania Classic.

Emlyn Aubrey and Danny Briggs shot 6-under-par 65s today to share the first-round lead in the first regular PGA Tour event in Pennsylvania in 20 years.

"I didn't have a lot of expectation as far as what I was going to shoot,'' said Briggs, who has never won a PGA Tour event. "I never look at the scoreboard. I never even looked at the guy that was carrying in our group to see how many under I was.''

Loren Roberts and Frank Lickliter opened with 67s on the Waynesborough Country Club course, and Mark Calcavecchia topped a nine-player group at 68.

Briggs, who started on No. 10, birdied four of the last five holes. After he made a birdie putt on No. 8, a spectator shouted, "Tiger Who?''

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, and Ernie Els head the list of no-shows that includes the tour's top seven money-winners. Aubrey is 194th and Briggs 196th on the list.

"There's times that you think, 'You know what man, I've had enough of this, traveling and hotels and airplanes being delayed,' " Briggs said. "I have tried to have a good attitude and confidence. If it goes the other direction, I'll still try to have a good attitude and be confident and continue to do whatever.''

Aubrey, who also has never won a PGA Tour event, had six birdies in a bogey-free round. He missed short putts for birdie on the 16th and 17th holes.

"Seems like I've been missing the cuts by one shot lately,'' said Aubrey, who was born in Reading, Pa.

"Fortunately the last couple weeks I made them. Last two tournaments in Canada (Bell Canadian Open and Air Canada Championship), I made birdies on the last hole Friday to make the cut. Hopefully things are turning around.''

Roberts, who has won seven PGA Tour events, including this year's Greater Milwaukee Open, birdied the final two holes to finish at 67. He double-bogeyed No. 11 after a birdie on No. 10.

Lickliter, 105th on the money list, had four holes.

"You have to think your way around this golf course,'' Roberts said. "You have to know where to miss the ball. It's a real thinking man's golf course. It might be one of the best, new golf courses I've seen in a while.''

Doug Dunakey, Jonathan Kaye, Carlos Franco, Chris DiMarco, Dudley Hart, Tom Purtzer, Kelly Gibson, and Mike Sposa joined Calcavecchia at 68.

"I never check to see if people on the world rankings play here,'' Franco said. "For me, it is important to play the tournament and take a couple months off.''

Aubrey, who missed much of last year with a back injury, got a medical exemption this year. His road to recovery has been a long, arduous process.

"It was a lot more difficult than I thought,'' Aubrey said. "I felt like the physical side was ready to go after a week or two. You have several weeks where you play bad and then you're mind starts losing confidence and you're struggling that way. That's what I did the first half of the year.''

Grant Waite, who finished second the last two weeks, tops a 13-player group at 69.

DIVOTS: Arnold Palmer, a native of Latrobe, Pa., was influential in bringing the PGA Tour back to Pennsylvania. "Pennsylvania has had some great golf tournaments, and I've had the opportunity to participate in them, and I think it was just very bad that we didn't have and do not have until this week a tournament here that is a PGA Tour event,'' Palmer said. ... Jim Furyk, who was born in nearby West Chester, is among those at 69. ... John Daly shot a hit-or-miss round of 72 that included five bogeys and four birdies. ... CaseyMartin shot a 71.

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