DiMarco heads crowded leaderboard

Chris DiMarco has done pretty well this season while battling a balky swing. So when that part of his game finally caught up with his putting Thursday, he went to the top of the leaderboard.

DiMarco shot a 5-under 67 in the first round of the BellSouth Classic, taking advantage of several short birdie chances after solid iron shots. He narrowly missed two more birdie putts from close range.

Six players were tied one shot back, including defending champion Retief Goosen, and another seven players were two shots behind. The event is the final tuneup for the Masters, the first major of the year.

"I've been fighting my swing a little bit all year," said DiMarco, who has three top-10 finishes in nine starts. "Today was one of the better swinging rounds I've had, where I was very consistent with my iron play and had a lot of really good shots at the hole.

"I was very much in control of my game, which I have not been that much this year."

With a lack of rain, the TPC at Sugarloaf played uncharacteristically hard and firm in the opening round. That made the greens less receptive to approach shots and forced players to be more conservative.

"The faster the better for me," DiMarco said. "I don't know why, but I just like really fast greens. I can see the lines better. I like this course, especially when it plays like this. I think it plays better fast and hard."

Rookie John E. Morgan briefly took the lead at 6 under with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 fourth, his 13th hole, but a bogey three holes later moved him back into a tie with DiMarco. Then Morgan made a double bogey on his final hole, the par-4 ninth, and joined that large group at 69.

Goosen, the 2001 U.S. Open champ, followed his victory in this tournament last year with a second-place finish in the Masters behind Tiger Woods. Like DiMarco, Goosen would like to see the greens stay the same for the final three rounds.

"I prefer the firmer greens," Goosen said. "There won't be anybody just running away with it - keeps the field bunched up, and the better players go to the top.

"A few holes, you have to land it 15 yards short of the flag to get it to stop. It's certainly a different golf course than it was last year."

DiMarco also reached 6 under before a late bogey, this one at No. 17. With an in-between distance from the middle of the fairway on the par-4 hole, he pulled his 7-iron left of the green, and he couldn't get up and down to save par.

Then on the par-5 18th, a bad bounce in the fairway forced him to lay up with his second shot, and after an indifferent pitch to about 25 feet, he made a 5-footer for par.

"I don't think you necessarily, unless you've got an absolute perfect yardage ... that you can really even go at that green," DiMarco said of No. 18. "Once you can get it on that green and put it where you want to putt it, with the greens being this hard and fast, it isn't really worth it."

Among those two shots back were Fred Couples and past tourney winners Paul Stankowski and Mark Calcavecchia. Stankowski was especially pleased with his round, which came a day after he struggled in the pro-am.

"They were ducking for cover most of the day," Stankowski said of his amateur partners. "I got it kind of figured out a little bit and hit enough good shots to give myself enough opportunities.

"So I'm encouraged. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and I found one. It's a good start."

Phil Mickelson, playing in his first tournament since taking a month off for the birth of his third child, shot 73.

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