Wachovia Championship 2006

Nick Faldo and Ben Crane were nowhere in sight as Rory Sabbatini earned a share of the first round lead at the $6 million Wachovia Championship on Thursday.

Sabbatini, playing with two other quick players, reeled off seven birdies to join Jim Furyk, Bill Haas and Trevor Immelman at 4-under- par 68 on the demanding Quail Hollow course.

On a day when all of the big guns scored well, with Phil Mickelson joining Ernie Els and Vijay Singh on 71, Sabbatini returned to action refreshed after a three-week break.

"It feels good to be out here and I'm hoping to build on what I did today," said the Texas-based South African, who bogeyed his final hole, the tough par-4 ninth. "I was a little rusty but I hung in there and limited my mistakes. It's a tough course and the greens started to firm up."

Sabbatini was the leading money winner on the PGA Tour after the first two months of the season, thanks to a victory at the Nissan Open and a pair of runner-up finishes. However, he has been missing in action since the tour left the West Coast, making headlines only for his run-in with Faldo at the Players Championship.

Sabbatini, one of the quickest players on tour, played the first two rounds there with noted slowpoke Faldo, and was incensed with the Englishman's pace of play, so much so that his wife publicly protested outside the ropes by donning a t-shirt for the second round that read "Keep Up".

And last year, at the tour's Washington stop, Sabbatini was similarly upset with Crane's pace of play, so much so that he putted out at the 71st hole before Crane had even reached the green. But there were no such problems on Thursday, even if the pace of play was glacier-like in general.

Furyk, who lost a playoff to Vijay Singh last year, also bogeyed the par-4 ninth.

"I hit a couple of poor drives and I'll want to hit more fairways the rest of the week," said the 2003 United States Open champion. "Usually that's my strength, not my weakness."

Haas, meanwhile, is enjoying a family affair this week, with brother Jay junior and father Jay also in the field. Not that they are doing too much bonding, each staying somewhere different.

"My dad is staying with a friend, (my brother) is staying with a buddy and I've got my own place," Haas revealed. "We're not all in one little house and talking all the time (although) we've gone to dinner the last two nights."

Despite his golfing genes and high public expectations, 23-year-old Haas has not exactly taken the tour by storm in his rookie season, a tie for 15th at New Orleans last week his best result of the year.

"I'm not that disappointed with the way my career has gone," Haas said. "Obviously you have ambitions, but everything I've done as a professional has been gradual progress so far. I want to improve and I'm working harder than I ever have."

Immelman, at 26, also has high expectations, but he too has been quiet this year, particularly recently, missing four straight cuts before bouncing back with a tie for 11th in Houston two weeks ago.

"I've hit the ball really solidly this year (but) haven't got too much out of it," said the South African, a controversial captain's pick by Gary Player on the International team at last year's Presidents Cup. "I don't think I've converted three shots into two from 100 yards and in enough, but I started to see some better signs at Houston and so I was coming in here with a little bit more confidence."

Masters champion Mickelson expressed satisfaction with his improvement after a relatively mediocre performance last week.

"I hit it better than at New Orleans," he said. "I'm not disappointed with 1-under. Even though the course is playing as easy as it can, with no wind, it's tough. The fairways are hard, the rough is tough and balls just bounce into it. And the greens are some of the toughest we play. I think this plays very similar to a major."

The average score of 74.5 suggested as much.