Choi leads with course record round

K.J. Choi shot a course-record 8-under 63 Thursday in the Tampa Bay Classic, while 18-year-old Ty Tryon had a 73 in his first PGA Tour start since March.

Choi, who won the Compaq Classic in May to became the first South Korean winner on the PGA Tour, had a two-stroke lead over Australia's Rod Pampling when the opening round was suspended because of lightning with 17 players left on the course.

Billy Andrade, second last week in the Pennsylvania Classic, shot a 66, and Bart Bryant also was 5 under with one hole to play. Pat Perez was alone at 67.

Tryon, the youngest player to earn a PGA Tour card, had four birdies and five bogeys in his first tour round since recovering from mononucleosis.

"I felt pretty comfortable," Tryon said. "All in all it was a good day. I'm excited just to be out here. I felt like a regular pro going about his job, which is how it should be."

Granted a medical exemption for 2003, he missed the cut two weeks ago in the Buy.com Tour's Utah Classic, and last played on the PGA Tour in March, missing the cut in the Bay Hill Invitational in Orlando.

Hal Sutton and Stewart Cink, the only U.S. Ryder Cup players who failed to qualify for the World Golf Championships event this week in Ireland, also got off to slow starts. Sutton shot a 72, and Cink had a 73 on the Innisbrook Resort's Copperhead course.

The Ryder Cup is next week at The Belfry in England.

Choi had nine birdies and one bogey to break the course record of 64 set by Mike Hulbert in the inaugural 2000 tournament. The 2002 event was canceled because of the terrorist attacks.

"I just came back from Korea and wasn't expecting to play well with jet lag, but the course was very tight with narrow fairways and I was driving very well and my iron shots were very good," Choi said through a translator.

"Putting was the only thing I had a doubt with but I worked in the morning on the putting green and was making everything today."

Choi birdied five of his first seven holes, including four in a row. The 63 is his low round of the season, two shots better than the second-round 65 he shot on the way to victory in New Orleans.

"After the first win in New Orleans, I got a lot of pressure off me," Choi said. "I maybe relaxed too much. There was a different atmosphere, different tee times and different pairings. I was treated like a champion. It took almost two months to get used to it. Now I'm out of a little bit of a slump."

Pampling played in the afternoon session.

"At the time, 3 under was second best," he said. "You just realize K.J. had a great day out there. Fortunately, things also went my way too, and I'm not far behind."

Andrade had five birdies in a bogey-free round. He led after the first three rounds last week in Pennsylvania, but finished a stroke behind Dan Forsman after Forsman eagled the final hole.

"Monday night it really hit me that I'd let this slip away," Andrade said. "But once I got on the plane to come here, there's nothing you can do about last week.

"I did a lot of great things last week, so I'm trying to look at all the positive things I did. It's over, so now let's tackle this course and try to win this tournament."

John Huston, the 2000 winner, opened with a 69.

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