Doral-Ryder
Open
Doral Golf Resort & Spa
Miami, Florida
5th - 8th March 1998
Par
72 Prize Money $2 million
First
Round Report
First
Round Scores
Curtis
Strange in five-way tie at Doral
Miami,
Florida, 5th March 1998 - Curtis Strange, who has not won since the 1989 U.S.
Open, bogeyed the final two holes today (Thursday) to fall into a five-way tie
for the lead after the first round of the $2 million Doral-Ryder Open at the Doral
Golf Resort & Spa in Miami.
Strange,
who has 17 career victories but none this decade, shot a 4-under-par 68 and is
tied atop the leaderboard with Mike Brisky, Ronnie Black, Mark Calcavecchia and
Bob Tway. Five players, including Tommy Tolles and Hal Sutton, are one shot off
the pace.
Tiger
Woods, David Duval, Bernhard Langer and golf legend Jack Nicklaus are among 13
golfers who carded 2-under 70s and trail the leaders by two shots.
Calcavecchia
began on the back nine and opened with a birdie. He would add a birdie at No.
12 and made the turn at 2-under. An eagle on the first hole moved him to 4-under
but he bogeyed No. 4. He rebounded to birdie No. 7 but gave that shot back at
No. 9 with a bogey to fall to 4-under.
Calcavecchia
has eight career victories, including last year's Greater Vancouver Open.
Brisky
has missed the cut in three of four tournaments this year and is 163rd on the
money list with $6,800. He has split time between the PGA and Nike Tours.
Black,
who is 169th on the money list with $5,207, also has missed three of four cuts.
He has two career victories but none since the 1984 Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic.
Tway
has had a strong start to his season, earning $148,433. He has seven career victories
but has won just once -- the 1995 MCI Classic -- since 1991. Tway tore up the
back nine today, carding a 5-under 31. The highlight was a hole-in-one on the
par-3, 174-yard 15th.
Nicklaus
has 70 PGA and 10 Senior Tour titles but the 58-year-old "Golden Bear"
has not won at the PGA level since the 1986 Masters.
The
par-72 Doral Golf Resort & Spa course measures 6,939 yards.
First
prize is $350,000.
