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Five share opening round
honours
The leaderboard at the National
Car Rental Golf Classic is as crowded as Disney World during vacation season.
In an event that features
the return of world No. 1 Tiger Woods, five players grabbed a share of the lead
Thursday during a windy opening round at the $3.4 million PGA Tour event.
Fourteen others are within
two shots of the leaders, but Woods is not among them. He ended his five-week
hiatus with a 3-under-par 69 that left him in a tie for 31st, four shots back.
Stewart Cink, Scott McCarron,
Steve Lowery, Len Mattiace and Shaun Micheel shot 7-under 65s. David Toms, Vijay
Singh of Fiji and Canadian Mike Weir were among seven players to card 66s.
Duffy Waldorf won last year's
National Car Rental Classic with a 72-hole total of 26-under 262, but Lowery thinks
that score will be tough to match if the wind keeps up.
"If the wind blows,
it's going to be somewhere there or not quite as low," he said. "But
if the wind dies down, golf courses are to be gotten."
While several players scramble
to get their families around in Disney World this week, many also are scrambling
to keep tour cards or make the lucrative Tour Championship.
Among them is Micheel, who
entered the week 145th on the money list with $277,507 -- nearly $100,000 less
than Paul Goydos for 125th. The top 125 retain their playing privileges for 2002.
Cink, McCarron and Lowery
all are trying to hold on to one of the final 30 spots for the season-ending Tour
Championship in two weeks.
While he is a member of
the United States Ryder Cup team, Cink is just 28th on the money list with $1,584,696.
Kevin Sutherland is 31st with $1,513,934 and is tied for 31st at this event after
a 69.
"I feel like I have
taken a step as a competitor," Cink said. "I have elevated myself. But
I don't feel like it has been a breakout year for me. This has not been a real
satisfying year for me at all. I feel like I play worse than my potential."
McCarron is 26th, one spot
behind Lowery. Mattiace is just 83rd with $573,852. He needs the $612,000 top
prize just to move into the top 45.
Woods has no financial problems.
He leads the tour in earnings -- this year and all-time.
But the superstar struggled
during his first event since last month's Canadian Open, finishing his front nine
with a double-bogey and his back with a bogey.
Woods drove into a lateral
hazard at the 455-yard 18th -- his ninth hole -- at the Palm course and ended
up missing a six-foot bogey putt. That followed a string of three birdies in seven
holes.
After rebounding with a
birdie at the first, Woods parred the next four before birdying the sixth and
seventh holes. But he hooked his drive, pushed his second shot and missed a 15-foot
par putt at the ninth.
Carl Paulson became the
35th player this year to have two eagles in one round and played the par-5s at
the Palm Course in 6-under en route to a 66.
"This is my favorite
type of grass, back to the Bermuda thing," said Paulson, an Orlando native.
"I grew up with Bermuda. I live 20 minutes from here. It is nice to be in
your own bed. It is nice to play well around friends and family."
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