Mark Brooks takes opening honours

Opting to defend his B.C. Open title instead of playing in the British Open, Bohn shot a 6-under 66 to tie Harrison Frazar for second, one shot behind 45-year-old Mark Brooks after the first round.

"It shows that I totally made the right decision, makes me feel good. I played well, I'm in contention," said Bohn, who has made 12 straight cuts this year. "The British is my favorite major, too, but this is the last B.C. Open. They deserve to have the defending champion."

Gabriel Hjertstedt, the 1997 B.C. Open champ, was two strokes back at 67 along with Scott Gutschewski, Daisuke Maruyama, Matt Gogel, Omar Uresti, Scott Gump, John Rollins, Ryuji Imada, B.J. Staten and Jason Schultz.

Another former B.C. Open winner, 48-year-old Mike Hulbert (1989), was among a logjam at 68 after his best round in four tournaments this year.

The final B.C. Open -- it's being dropped from the PGA Tour after this year -- isn't being played at En-Joie Golf Club in Endicott for the first time since the event became a regular tour stop in 1972. Flooding in late June on the Susquehanna River inundated En-Joie and two weeks ago forced PGA Tour officials to move the tournament about 90 miles northeast to Turning Stone Resort's Atunyote Golf Club, a Tom Fazio design.

The courses couldn't be more different. While En-Joie's par-72, 6,974-yard layout is tree-lined and very narrow, Atunyote is a parkland course measuring 7,315 yards with huge stretches of open space.

Although the rough was not as high as most players might like, firm greens helped the leaders overcome a tricky 12 mph breeze on a sun-splashed day. Brooks and Frazar each needed just 25 putts, one fewer than Bohn.

"I putted unbelievably," Bohn said. "I think I made three putts outside 8 feet for par, which really kind of saved my round."

The top three, who played in the morning, each bogeyed No. 17, a 467-yard, par-4 hole that proved the second-toughest of the round. Players carded 31 bogeys, six double bogeys and only 15 birdies on it.

For Brooks, who hadn't held a first-round lead in a decade and whose seventh and last victory on tour was the 1996 PGA Championship, his lone bogey proved a blessing in disguise.

"I had a bad tee shot and it turned out to be key," said Brooks, who opened the 1996 Byron Nelson Classic with a 64, then watched Phil Mickelson win it. "I got stymied behind a tree, chipped it out, missed the green, pitched it to the green and made a good 10-footer for bogey. That was a pretty good putt. I was 4 under at that point. It would have been a pretty big swing in the wrong direction."

Frazar, who has never won in 234 events on tour, also found his touch after an errant drive.

"I knocked it into the water on No. 12, that was just a bad move," said Frazar, who has made only eight of 18 cuts this year. "For me to make a mistake and hit that ball in the water was costly. I dropped it, hit a 6-iron in the bunker short of the green and got up and down to save par. I made about a 10-footer there. That kind of jump-started me a little bit."

Indeed. He birdied the next three holes.

"Sometimes, it takes half a round to realize I am not hitting a shot well," said Frazar, who sank a 30-foot putt at No. 7 to finish his fourth straight birdie on the front nine. "You find something that takes the pressure off everything else at some point in your round.

"You never know what's going to spark you. After hitting it in the water and not getting too upset by it, just moving on from there, that kind of gave me the feeling that I didn't have to hit every shot perfect to score well."