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One-shot first round lead for DiMarco in BellSouthClassic
Duluth, Apr 04: Chris DiMarco shot a five-under-par 67 to take a one-shot first-round lead at the BellSouth Classic at the TPC at Sugarloaf on Thursday (April 4).
Duluth, Apr 04: Chris DiMarco shot a five-under-par 67 to take a one-shot first-round lead at the BellSouth Classic at the TPC at Sugarloaf on Thursday (April 4).
Chasing DiMarco on four-under 68 is a group of six players, including defending champion Retief Goosen of South Africa. Also on four-under 68 are Bob Burns, Billy Andrade, Aaron Barber, Brad Lardon and Jay Williamson.
On three-under 69 are Paul Stankowski, Joey Sindelar, England's John Morgan and former major winners Lee Janzen, Fred Couples, Mark Calcavecchia and Paul Azinger.
On greens that many players considered rock-hard, DiMarco had a field-leading 24 putts, with four of his birdies coming on putts of 15 feet or longer. DiMarco is coming off a breakthrough season in 2002 and appears to be on a similar pace.
After nine events last year, DiMarco had a win, four top-10 finishes and over $1 million in earnings. This year, he has three top-10 finishes and over $900,000 in earnings.
DiMarco now has a tour-leading 21 rounds in the 60s, and this lead marks the sixth time in his career he has either held or shared the first round lead. DiMarco, though, has never gone on to win in the previous five tournaments.
The Greg Norman-design yielded just 35 sub-par rounds, and the first-round scoring average of 73.52 was only the 12th time in 50 stroke-play rounds this season in which the scoring average exceeded 73.0.
In the previous six BellSouth Classics at the TPC at Sugarloaf, the first-round scoring average has been 72.102.
Leading first round scores from the $4 million BellSouth Classic at the par-72 TPC at Sugarloaf on Thursday (U.S. unless stated):
67 Chris DiMarco 68 Retief Goosen (South Africa), Bob Burns, Billy Andrade, Aaron Barber, Brad Lardon, Jay Williamson 69 Paul Stankowski, Lee Janzen, Fred Couples, Mark Calcavecchia, Paul Azinger, Joey Sindelar, John Morgan (Britain) 70 J.J. Henry, Mike Heinen, Bob Tway, Brandt Jobe, John Huston, Tom Pernice Jr., Olin Browne 71 Brenden Pappas (South Africa), Steve Jones, Carl Pettersson (Sweden), Mathew Goggin (Australia), Andy Miller, Esteban Toledo (Mexico), Jeff Gallagher, Michael Clark II, Jim Carter, Mike Sposa, Larry Mize, Akio Sadakata (Japan), Tom Gillis, Hank Kuehne
Other international players 72 Per-Ulrik Johansson (Sweden), Glen Hnatiuk (Canada), Carlos Franco (Paraquay), Luke Donald (Britain), Angel Cabrera (Argentina), James McLean (Australia), Scott Laycock (Australia), Paul Lawrie (Britain) 73 Kenichi Kuboya (Japan), Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan), Thomas Levet (France) 74 Richard Zokol (Canada), Jesper Parnevik (Sweden), Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 75 Steve Allan (Australia), Gavin Coles (Australia), Steve Elkington (Australia), Anthony Painter (Australia), Deane Pappas (South Africa) 76 Rory Sabbatini (South Africa), Niclas Fasth (Sweden), Ryuji Imada (Japan), Mike Weir (Canada), Paul Gow (Australia), Richard Johnson (Sweden) 77 Alex Cejka (Germany) 78 Greg Chalmers (Australia), John Senden (Australia), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) WD (78) Jose Coceres (Argentina), David Frost (South Africa)
Bureau Report
DiMarco now has a tour-leading 21 rounds in the 60s, and this lead marks the sixth time in his career he has either held or shared the first round lead. DiMarco, though, has never gone on to win in the previous five tournaments.
The Greg Norman-design yielded just 35 sub-par rounds, and the first-round scoring average of 73.52 was only the 12th time in 50 stroke-play rounds this season in which the scoring average exceeded 73.0.
In the previous six BellSouth Classics at the TPC at Sugarloaf, the first-round scoring average has been 72.102.
Leading first round scores from the $4 million BellSouth Classic at the par-72 TPC at Sugarloaf on Thursday (U.S. unless stated):
67 Chris DiMarco 68 Retief Goosen (South Africa), Bob Burns, Billy Andrade, Aaron Barber, Brad Lardon, Jay Williamson 69 Paul Stankowski, Lee Janzen, Fred Couples, Mark Calcavecchia, Paul Azinger, Joey Sindelar, John Morgan (Britain) 70 J.J. Henry, Mike Heinen, Bob Tway, Brandt Jobe, John Huston, Tom Pernice Jr., Olin Browne 71 Brenden Pappas (South Africa), Steve Jones, Carl Pettersson (Sweden), Mathew Goggin (Australia), Andy Miller, Esteban Toledo (Mexico), Jeff Gallagher, Michael Clark II, Jim Carter, Mike Sposa, Larry Mize, Akio Sadakata (Japan), Tom Gillis, Hank Kuehne
Other international players 72 Per-Ulrik Johansson (Sweden), Glen Hnatiuk (Canada), Carlos Franco (Paraquay), Luke Donald (Britain), Angel Cabrera (Argentina), James McLean (Australia), Scott Laycock (Australia), Paul Lawrie (Britain) 73 Kenichi Kuboya (Japan), Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan), Thomas Levet (France) 74 Richard Zokol (Canada), Jesper Parnevik (Sweden), Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 75 Steve Allan (Australia), Gavin Coles (Australia), Steve Elkington (Australia), Anthony Painter (Australia), Deane Pappas (South Africa) 76 Rory Sabbatini (South Africa), Niclas Fasth (Sweden), Ryuji Imada (Japan), Mike Weir (Canada), Paul Gow (Australia), Richard Johnson (Sweden) 77 Alex Cejka (Germany) 78 Greg Chalmers (Australia), John Senden (Australia), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) WD (78) Jose Coceres (Argentina), David Frost (South Africa)
Bureau Report