Davis takes opening day honours

Britain's Brian Davis fired an opening round six-under 65 to grab the first round lead at the Nissan Open on Thursday, while Tiger Woods and twice champion Mike Weir lurked two shots back after solid starts.

An eight-year European Tour veteran trying his luck on the U.S. circuit after winning a spot at qualifying school, Davis began the day in style with an eagle on his first hole at Los Angeles' Riviera Country Club.

"I am a Tour rookie and I have to learn a lot of golf courses but winning Q school is a big boost," Davis said.

"It played really tough the back nine. It was like playing links golf back home. I was obviously pleased to get it in at six-under par."

The Londoner then added four birdies and finished with eight consecutive pars to take a one-shot lead over American Brett Quigley and compatriots Luke Donald and Darren Clarke, who highlighted his round with a hole-in-one on the par-three sixth.

"I had a seven iron, put it behind the flag and it trickled back in," Clarke said.

"A little bit of skill and a lot of luck. It came at the right time.

Fresh from a three-week break following his victory at last month's Buick Invitational, Woods underlined his determination to reclaim the number one world ranking from Vijay Singh by carding a solid four-under 67.

Woods needs to finish no worse than fourth at this $4.8 million event to reclaim top spot and he opened his round with birdies on his first two holes.

Playing the back nine first, the eight-time major winner then dropped a shot on the par-four 13th but quickly rebounded by stringing together three consecutive birdies from the 15th to go four-under.

After the turn Woods' charge stalled, playing his final nine in even par with two birdies and a pair of bogeys.

However, it was still the best start for Woods at the Nissan, the only tournament he has entered more than four times and never won.

"I'm always excited coming out to the west coast," said Woods, who made his PGA Tour debut here as a 16-year-old in 1992 and has played in the event nine times without winning.

"This is how I kind of grew up putting but I've never seen the greens this fast before.

"I putted like a fool today but at the end, I found something in the stroke that was nice and hit two beautiful putts the last two holes."

Woods was joined at four-under by six other golfers, including Weir, the 2003 U.S. Masters champion who is trying to become the first to win the event in three successive years.

The Canadian had looked poised to join the group at five-under until he found the bunker on his final hole and settled for a bogey.

Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, who lost a playoff for the 1995 U.S. PGA championship on the Riviera course, got his tournament off to a modest start by carding a level par 71.

South Africa's Retief Goosen was forced out of the event without hitting a ball when he was disqualified after missing his tee time for Wednesday's Pro Am event.

Under PGA rules, any golfer who misses the Pro Am is automatically disqualified.

According to media reports, the world number five overslept after failing to get his requested wake-up call.

Fiji's Singh, world number three Ernie Els and fourth-ranked Phil Mickelson are all absent from this event.

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page