Huston/Maggert lead with opening 64

John Huston and Jeff Maggert fired an 8-under-par 64 under the alternate shot format to take the first-round lead Friday in the Franklin Templeton Shootout.

They were a shot ahead of Rocco Mediate and Lee Janzen, and Mark O'Meara and John Cook at Tiburon Golf Club.

"We pretty much do our own thing," Huston said. "We don't try to overcoach each other. I think that works well in this sort of a deal."

Maggert also likes that approach.

"I don't think we really helped each other read a putt all day," he said. "A lot of guys that are out there and both guys are reading lines.

"The way I see a line might be a little bit different, even though we know it's going to break the same amount."

The 12 two-man teams will play better ball Saturday in the unofficial PGA Tour event. The players play a scramble in Sunday's final round.

The winners split $500,000 from a purse of $2.25 million. Steve Elkington and Peter Jacobsen are tied for fourth with Mark Calcavecchia and Andrew Magee, and Matt Kuchar and David Gossett.

Two-time defending champions Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron will have to make quite a comeback to win again. They're in last place at 1-under-par.

"We didn't play badly, we just didn't get the job done," Faxon said.

While Huston and Maggert are quiet, Mediate and Janzen - former teammates at Florida Southern College - are just the opposite.

"We talk all of the time," Mediate said.

"They don't talk to anybody anyway," Janzen joked of Huston and Maggert. "We talk almost every shot."

Janzen had the hot putter, sinking birdies from 3, 15, 10, 20 and 3 feet, while Mediate made the team's other two birdies.

Huston and Maggert played together on the 1994 Presidents Cup team, so when the pairings were announced for the Shootout, they felt comfortable. Huston has played well on Bermuda greens, with five of his six career victories in Florida.

It showed. The team got going with a birdie on No. 5, then a 30-footer for eagle on No. 6 and a birdie on No. 7. They had birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 17 coming in.

"I think that's what really got us going, got the momentum going," Maggert said of the eagle.

Huston got a break when his tee shot hit a cart path and rolled an additional 20 or 30 yards.

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