Pampling takes first day honours

Scott Hoch and Thomas Levet share third place at six-under 66. Marco Dawson, Carlos Franco, Brent Geiberger and Shaun Micheel are one shot further back at minus-five.

Pampling, who was accurate throughout his round hitting 15-of-18 greens in regulation, began his day in the third group to tee off the front nine on the Blue Course of the Doral Golf Resort and Spa. He notched his first birdie with a ten-footer at the par-four second.

Pampling, who is searching for his first PGA Tour win, notched his next birdie at the par-four fifth when he rolled in a ten-footer. He then carded consecutive birdies beginning at the seventh, both from within four feet, and went on to make the turn at minus-four.

"It was an advantage starting early," said Pampling. "The greens in the morning are fantastic. There are going to be a few little marks here and there as the day goes on. Tomorrow, it will reverse and they will get the advantage."

On the back side, the Australian continued to roll with tap-in birdies on the two par-fives, Nos. 10 and 12, to climb to six-under. Pampling closed his round with back-to-back birdies from the 17th, where he made a 30-foot putt, to leap to the top of the leaderboard.

"I had a real solid day," said Pampling. "We did everything quite nicely and the par-fives were a big key. Besides the first hole, everything else was just a tap-in on the par-fives. We made a couple of nice ones, a couple of 10- footers, and ended up being eight-under."

Tway started his day in the group behind Pampling and was hot on the front- nine. Tway, a seven-time winner on tour with his last victory coming in 1995, birdied the first from five feet, then carded back-to-back birdies from the third to get to three-under through four holes.

The 1986 PGA Championship winner went on to notch three straight birdies from the sixth to make the turn at minus-six. His front-nine total of 30 was one stroke off the tournament's nine-hole record of 29 set by Tom Kite in 1974.

Tway continued his roll with a birdie at the 10th from four feet and made a four-footer at the 14th to get to eight-under. He faltered with a bogey at the par-three 15th, after his tee ball was buried in a bunker, to finish alone in second place.

"You know how we are, we are always thinking things could be better," Tway said. "I'm very pleased with it. The wind was blowing the backside so that makes it that much more difficult. I made some putts I don't normally make on the front, so, that was good. Maybe I didn't hit it quite as well on the other side, but in general I was pleased with how I hit it."

Jose Coceres, Dudley Hart, Skip Kendall, Shigeki Maruyama, Billy Mayfair, Carl Paulson, Matt Peterson, Stephen Ames, Heath Slocum, Esteban Toledo and Jim Furyk, who won this event in 2000, are tied for ninth at four-under 68.

David Toms, runner-up to Tiger Woods at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship last week, finished at one-under 71, good for a share of 56th place.

World Golf Hall of Famer Jack Nicklaus, who may be trying to shape his game for the Masters in five weeks, finished at one-over 73. His son, Gary, is among those tied with Toms at one-under 71.

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