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Round 1 Notes - Ames flies as a single – Mercedes-Benz Championship

by Wire Services, January 03, 2008 First-Round Notes – Thursday, January 3, 2008

Weather: Temperatures in the mid 70’s under mostly sunny skies; winds N/NE at 15-25 mph with occasional showers.

The 2008 PGA TOUR Regular Season got underway on time at 10:45am as 2007 Children’s Miracle Network Classic champion, Stephen Ames, played as a single. He completed his round of 72 in 3 hours and 7 minutes.

At the end of a rainy and windy day on Maui, a total of 10 players were able to break par. This marks the third consecutive opening round at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in which 12 or less players were able to break par on Thursday (2007 – 12; 2006 – 9).

First-round leader Nick Watney is continuing his solid play from the end of the 2007 PGA TOUR season. Including today’s round, Watney has now carded 14 of his last 18 rounds on TOUR at par or better.

This is Watney’s first round in the 60s in Hawaii as the fourth-year PGA TOUR player has one missed cut and a T69 finish in two trips to the Sony Open in Honolulu.

This marks the fourth 18-hole lead/co-lead of Nick Watney’s PGA TOUR career:
Year    Event        Score        Finish
2007    AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am    65-75-72-73—285    T42
2006    Chrysler Cl. of Greensboro    64-71-74-68—277    T6
2005    Buick Open        64-71-72-71—278    T39

There were zero bogey-free rounds on Thursday at Kapalua’s Plantation Course

Three of the last five first-round leaders/co-leaders at the Mercedes-Benz Championship have gone on to win the event that week:
YEAR    CHAMPION    Rd. 1    LEADER/CO-LEADER
2007    Vijay Singh        69    Tied with four players
2004    Stuart Appleby    66    One-shot lead over Darren Clarke
2003    Ernie Els        64    Tied with Jim Furyk
Daniel Chopra’s first-round 69 continued a hot streak from 2007 in which he recorded two top-five finishes in his last four events, including his first career PGA TOUR title at the inaugural Ginn Sur mer Classic and a T3 effort at the Valero Texas Open.

Could there be something to the theory of beginner’s luck? All 12 first-time winners from 2007 are in the field this week at the Mercedes-Benz Championship; of that 12, four find themselves in the top-six through 18 holes: Daniel Chopra, Nick Watney, Angel Cabrera, and Brandt Snedeker.

The last first-time participant to claim the title in the winners-only Mercedes-Benz Championship was Sergio Garcia in 2002. Before Sergio, Steve Jones was the last player to accomplish that feat in 1989.

Defending champion Vijay Singh opened his 2008 FedExCup season with a round of 74. In the history of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, an impressive six players have successfully defended their title at total of eight times: 2006/2005 – Stuart Appleby, 1983 – Lanny Wadkins, 1980 – Tom Watson, 1966 – Arnold Palmer, 1964 – Jack Nicklaus, 1957/1956 – Gene Littler.

Scoring Averages:
    Front 9    Back 9    Total
Thursday    35.792    36.968    73.645

The most difficult hole on Thursday was the par-3 eighth, which played to an average of 3.516.

There were zero eagles recorded in round one of the Mercedes-Benz Championship on Thursday.

Drive for show and putt for dough? After Thursday’s first round, the top five players in Putting Average through round one all found themselves inside the top 10 on the leaderboard: Brandt Snedeker, Aaron Baddeley, Jonathan Byrd, Daniel Chopra, and Nick Watney.

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