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Rain cuts short first day

Rain washed away a good portion of Thursday's first round of the Buick Open, with 57 golfers yet to tee off. Only 37 players completed their rounds on Thursday and first-round action will continue 7 a.m. (et) Friday morning.

Scott Hoch owns the lead at four-under through 16 holes and is followed by a trio of players who are a shot behind. Gabriel Hjertstedt is three-under though 16 holes, Mark Wiebe through 15 and Brian Watts is at minus-three with four holes to go in his first round.

Tiger Woods, whose streak of consecutive major titles ended last week at the U.S. Open, chipped to tap-in range at the first hole before the horn sounded ending play.

One downpour at 6:30 p.m. (et) forced officials to suspend play for the day as four holes were deemed too wet to play.

Hoch started with a birdie at his opening hole as he started on the back nine at the West Course at Westchester Country Club. He made several par saves along his front nine before he closed with a birdie at 18.

The 2001 Greater Greensboro Classic champion carded his only bogey of the round when he three-putted from the fringe at his 13th hole, the fourth. Hoch birdied two of his next three holes and reached the green in regulation at the eighth hole when play was called.

"I was hoping we'd finish up," said Hoch, who only had the par-five ninth to play.

On several occasions Thursday it looked like the rain was going to let up only to see the showers intensify. Hoch stated that the start and stop nature of play in the rain can be taxing to a golfer.

"Mentally, you've got to be prepared to play, and that might be tougher than the part about loosening up," Hoch said. "The way this tournament is going to be, there's probably going to be a number of stoppages during this week. It's just as important to be sharp mentally as it is to be loose."

Rain is in the forecast for both Friday and Saturday.

Brad Faxon, Corey Pavin and Justin Leonard are tied at two-under and are three of the 37 golfers who finished on Thursday. Sergio Garcia, Tom Byrum and Stephen Allan are also two-under but have to come back Friday morning to finish their rounds.

Among the notable players besides Woods who did not tee off Thursday are defending champion Dennis Paulson, Vijay Singh, Fred Couples and David Duval.

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