Coles and Hammond lead with 65's

The weather was bad, the forecast is even worse. So, naturally, two golfers enduring mostly terrible years played near-perfect rounds at the rain-splattered 84 Lumber Classic.

Gavin Coles and Donnie Hammond don't have a single top 20 finish between them this year, yet shot 7-under 65s Thursday to share the first-round lead as scores were much better than the wet, breezy conditions.

A leaderboard filled with mostly unknowns looked more like one from the developmental Nationwide Tour than the PGA Tour. One stroke back were Brent Schwarzrock, Grant Waite and Michael Clark II, all of whom are No. 186 or below on the Tour money list.

Lee Janzen, one of the few recognizable names close to the lead, was among a large group at 5-under 67. Mark O'Meara and Rocco Mediate were among those at 68 and British Open champion Ben Curtis was in a group at 69.

As the leading edge of Isabel approached the mountaintop Nemacolin Woodlands resort, a steady rain began falling and the winds picked up in the early afternoon, but scores did not drop substantially.

The 7,329-yard Mystic Rock course's wide and inviting fairways swallowed up accurate and errant tee shots alike, creating plenty of birdie opportunities on the undulating but forgiving greens.

"Yeah, you could throw it pretty much right at the pin with a 5-iron, maybe a 6-iron," Hammond said. "It makes it easier to get to the pin; the greens are really slow out there. It would be a lot more difficult if they were harder."

With nearly all the big names missing -- only one of the top 20 and 12 of the top 50 Tour money-winners are playing -- many low on the money list are trying to take advantage and make a significant move.

Coles, for example, is 228th on the list at $38,330 and hasn't finished higher than 63rd on the Tour this year; Hammond is 167th and has a season's best finish of 23rd.

"I've been playing so badly," Coles said. "Seven birdies, no bogeys, that's quite unusual. My rounds usually have a few bogeys in them."

Coles made three birdie putts of 20 feet or longer, highlighted by a 45-footer on the 183-yard, par-3 17th.

"That's the thing that's been getting me -- making just one or two birdies in a round," he said. "You're not going to compete out here doing that. You have to go out there and make seven birdies to compete with these guys."

The 34-year-old Coles is trying to play off the recent success Australian golfers have enjoyed in Pennsylvania. Nick Flanagan, also from New South Wales, was a surprise winner of the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont last month. Robert Allenby won the 84 Lumber Classic's predecessor, the Pennsylvania Classic, in 2001.

The 46-year-old Hammond, who first joined the Tour 20 years ago, is trying to emulate last year's Pennsylvania Classic champion, Dan Forsman, who was 44 at the time. Eight winners on the PGA Tour this year have been 40 or over, including Vijay Singh, last weekend's John Deere Classic champion.

Even if the heavy rains forecast for early Friday soften the course, Waite said scores should remain low.

"The greens are receptive, so a guy that's really in control of the ball should be able to hit the ball close to the hole," he said.

Not that the poor weather was anything unusual; 22 of the 40 PGA Tour events this year have been weather interrupted, including the John Deere, which didn't finish until Monday. Many in the field were gearing themselves for delays on Friday, maybe even a washout, as the remnants of Isabel passed over the area overnight.

"If we have to play 36 on Sunday, that's what we'll do," Waite said. "This year has been terrible. ... Put it this way: at Reno, we got a rain delay, and it rains there only once every 10 years."

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