Golf roundup
Pampling leads Ford at Doral MIAMI (AP) – The fairways on the Blue Monster at Doral are wider than 12 yards. The rough is not waist-high. There is plenty of sand and water, but nothing that remotely resembles pot bunkers or Barry’s Burn.
That’s good news for Rod Pampling, the first-round leader Thursday in the Ford Championship at Doral with eight birdies in a round of 64.
It was the first time the 33-year-old Aussie has held a first-round lead at a PGA Tour event since the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie.
What happened after that is now part of golf trivia: Pampling is the only player in the 142-year history of the British Open to lead after the first round and then miss the cut.
“Obviously, it wasn’t great,” Pampling said. “It really didn’t bother me because I knew I didn’t play bad, the conditions were just unbelievably tough. You gradually progress in the game and learn to deal with different things.
“It’s just nice to have one under my belt, to actually lead a major.”
Pampling made it look easy with only one of his eight birdies longer than 12 feet, and had a one-stroke lead over Bob Tway.
“It will be exciting if we finish up leading,” Pampling said. “It’s not Sunday, so there is nothing to get excited about.”
Tway, the former PGA champion, looked like he might be tied for the lead or even better after reaching 8 under through 14 holes. He tried to hit a hard 7-iron on the 15th, but the ball got caught up in the wind and buried in a bunker.
“I was scrambling to make bogey,” Tway said after his 65. “We’re always thinking it could be better. I think you have to be realistic.”
Scott Hoch and British Open runner-up Thomas Levet were at 66, while Carlos Franco of Paraguay finally showed some life and was in the group at 67.
Hoch was happy to be playing.
His left wrist started bothering him Wednesday and got progressively worse. He tried to hit balls, with first alternate Vance Veazey standing by, and only when he got to the final 10 swings did Hoch feel good enough to go.
He birdied four of the first eight holes and was right in the mix.
Veazey ended up going home, but not without trying to get into the field.
“He said, ‘Are you sure you’re feeling all right? Looks like you’re coming up on it, favoring it a bit,”‘ Hoch said. “He was kidding. He had a $50 gift certificate to Morton’s and said he would give that to me and buy me a nice bottle of wine.”
Jack Nicklaus, 63, doesn’t need to worry about taking someone’s spot in the field. He birdied the last two holes for a 1-over 73, which left him nine strokes out of the lead but better off than several players half his age.
Nicklaus, still trying to decide whether to play in his 44th Masters, hit an iron into 30 feet on the 528-yard eighth hole for a two-putt birdie, then holed a 15-foot putt on his final hole, the par-3 ninth.
“I have a nonexistent short game and it showed,” Nicklaus said, rarely satisfied. “I hit the ball decently, but I had some sloppy swings and that sort of killed the round.”
Still, he was one stroke better than David Duval, who continues to struggle off the tee. Duval had to take an unplayable lie on the par-5 12th, leading to a double bogey, and he went out in 40 before rallying with an eagle-birdie start on his back nine.
“What do you do?” Duval said. “Come back and try again tomorrow.”
Els trails by one stroke at Dubai Desert Classic
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Ernie Els shot a 6-under-par 66 and was one stroke behind Scotland’s Alistair Forsyth after the first round of the $1.9 million Dubai Desert Classic.
Els, the defending champion and winner of four of five events he has played in this season, is the top-ranked player in the tournament.
Tiger Woods pulled out of the event because of a possible U.S.-led attack of Iraq. Former champion Colin Montgomerie of Scotland and Nick Faldo of England also withdrew because of rising tension in the area.
Els made one birdie on the front nine and birdied Nos. 10, 12, 17 and 18 to charge up the leaderboard.
“You had to work a bit. I birdied my third hole and you know, that settled me a little bit,” said Els, who set the course record in 1994 with a 61.
“I think the greens are rolling perfect, like usual, and that gives me a good chance to make some birdies. All I have to do is to keep it in play and play my shots and try and make some putts.”
Forsyth had four birdies in a front-nine 31, and added birdies at Nos. 13, 17, and 18 to seize the lead from Els, who played in the morning.
“I feel I don’t get overly confident, certainly far from arrogant or anything like that, and obviously, if it is Ernie Els sitting there in second place, its a different ball game, especially the way he has been playing,” Forsyth said.
Nick Dougherty, Greg Owen, Sven Struver, Mikko Ilonen, Ian Donaldson and Robert-Jan Derksen are tied for third after opening 67s.
Mark O’Meara opened with a 4-under 68 and was tied for ninth.