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Hill leads after opening
67
Jason Hill carded a three-under-par
67 for the lead after Thursday's opening round of the Buy.com Steamtown Classic
in northeastern Pennsylvania. Kelly Gibson, Matt Peterson, Jason Buha and Mark
Wurtz share second place at minus-two.
The host Glenmaura National
Golf Club, the fourth most difficult layout on last year's schedule, continued
to vex the players this time around. Thursday's scoring average on the par-70
course soared to 73.490, the highest average on the tour this season.
"This golf course is tough.
I think it's one of the top-10 courses on either tour," said Gibson, a two-time
Buy.com winner who spent eight seasons on the PGA Tour. "You've got to respect
every hole. There are no gimmes anywhere. There are no holes where you can stand
out there and let your guard down."
Hill, who started on the
back nine first, birdied the 14th but gave two strokes back after he flew the
green at the 16th. He rebounded from the double-bogey with a birdie at 18, then
returned to red numbers with a birdie at the first.
Although he dropped another
shot at the third, Hill closed with three birdies over the final five holes for
a one-stroke lead.
"I'm tickled at the way
I played today," said Hill, a Buy.com Tour rookie who has two top-10 finishes
in eight starts in 2001. "I putted the ball well. For me, really well."
Hill, ranked 60th on the
tour in putting, needed only 26 strokes with the flat stick in round one.
Gibson, the runner-up in
Richmond two weeks ago, was pleased with his round despite a double-bogey of his
own.
"I played excellent save
for one bad drive, one hiccup," said Gibson, who looks to be back on track after
missing the cut in the first five events of the year. "You really have to trust
yourself out here especially with the wind, which tends to swirl on you."
The winds gusted up to
25 miles per hour on Thursday.
Jim McGovern, the winner
of the 1993 Houston Open on the PGA Tour, is among 10 players tied at one-under-par
69.
"This is a hard golf course,"
he said. "With no wind it's a hard course. There is no let up anywhere. Par is
a good score on every hole."
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