Pride takes first day honours

A life-threatening illness 11 months ago transformed Dicky Pride from an obsessed golfer to a man with a healthy new perspective on the game and his life.

Now he's playing as well as ever - maybe better.

Pride shot a 7-under-par 65 Thursday to take a one-shot lead over Aaron Baddeley after the first round of the Chrysler Classic.

Pride birdied three of the first four holes and was at 5-under 31 at the turn in chilly, windy and occasionally rainy conditions on the 7,109-yard course at the Omni Tucson National Golf Resort and Spa.

"It's just delightful," he said. "It really is. I mean, just the whole year I'm trying to feed off the positive things that have happened to me."

The 21-year-old Baddeley was born in New Hampshire, raised in Australia and now lives just up Interstate 10 in Scottsdale, Ariz. He finished second in the Sony Open in Hawaii on Jan. 19 when Ernie Els sank a 55-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole.

Playing the back nine first on Thursday, Baddeley nearly shared the lead with a spectacular 25-foot chip shot for birdie from the dormant rough on his last hole, the par-4, 440-yard ninth.

Although Baddeley couldn't see the hole, the ball bounced off the pin and came to rest inches from the cup. He tapped it in for par to finish at 66.

"I hope it stays windy," he said. "Because if it stays wet, windy and cold, a lot of guys don't like it. I like it."

Among Pride's eight birdies was a 45-foot putt on the par-4, 405-yard 14th hole.

"My putting was phenomenal today," said Pride, in the tournament because of a sponsor's exemption. "I rolled the ball great. I didn't make every putt I looked at, but I made a lot of them."

Five players - Brian Bateman, Jeff Maggert, Brian Gay, Frank Lickliter II and New Zealander Grant Waite - were two shots back. Eight others were three back at 4-under 68.

Gay, Lickliter and Waite were among the first golfers to tee off in temperatures that barely got above 40 degrees early in the day.

"It's like being in Ohio, cold and windy and nasty," Lickliter said.

Pride finished his round well before the rain began in mid-afternoon, but Baddeley and Bateman had to endure the intermittent downpours in their final holes.

Pride missed four months of last year's tour after he doubled over in pain while eating dinner at a friend's house just before the Bay Hill Invitational last March. He was rushed to surgery and spent a month in an Orlando hospital recovering from gall stones and pancreatitis.

The experience left him with a new outlook.

"I'm definitely a little easier on myself than I was," he said. "I'm definitely one of those guys who thought that it's better to burn out than fade away. I would go out there and do everything, stay out until midnight hitting balls. Do whatever it takes."

He is still serious about the game, just not manic about it.

"Figuring out that you don't have to hit 10 million balls every day, you know. If it's not just perfect, then don't lose your mind. Go on about your business."

The 2002 Tucson tournament was his last before the illness. A victory would be his second on the PGA Tour, nine years after he won the St. Jude's Classic.

The lack of well-known players on the leader board was no surprise. Nearly all of the big names are competing at the Match Play Championship in California.

The Tucson stop has been overshadowed by the match play event since 1999. Even before that, what used to be called the Tucson Open had a reputation for first-time PGA winners.

The last three Tucson champions, and seven of the last 15, had never won a PGA event.

Among those absent from the 144-man field was defending champion Ian Leggatt. He withdrew Wednesday after aggravating an elbow injury while practicing.

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