Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Dec 13: The Canadian duo of Mike Weir and Ian Leggatt lead after Thursday's (December 12) first round of the WGC World Cup of Golf in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Weir and Leggatt finished the four ball first round with a 59, 13 under par, one stroke ahead of Australia's Craig Parry and Adam Scott. The Canadians ended with 11 birdies and an eagle at the 10th. The French pairing of Thomas Levet and Raphael Jacquelin are tied for third with Korea's K J. Choi and S. K. Ho at 11 under. The Frenchmen had a disastrous finish to their round after reaching the 18th at 13 under. But Jacquelin hit his final tee shot into the stream then Levet followed him into the stream with his second. Worse was to come as, following his drop, Levet's ball rolled back into the hazard and he had to drop for a second time before double-bogeying the par four hole. Tournament favourites Phil Mickelson and David Toms, are a disappointing six off the lead, standing in 17th place of the 24 teams. The American pair, ranked second and fifth in the world respectively, looked to be heading for a good score when they moved to 7 under after 13. But, despite playing some fine shots, they could only birdie the next four before Mickelson found the hazard with his tee at the 18th and had to play out from a kneeling position. The best Toms could manage was to finish with another par. Defending champions South Africa, represented this year by Tim Clark and Rory Sabatini, launched their defence with a ten-under-par round of 62. Ernie Els and Retief Goosen took the trophy in 2001 after a four way play-off.


Leading scores at end of first round: 59 Mike Weir, Ian Leggatt (Canada) 60 Craig Parry, Adam Scott (Australia) 61 Thomas Levet, Raphael Jacquelin (France); K.J. Choi, S.K. Ho (Korea) 62 Niclas Fasth, Carl Pettersson (Sweden); Tim Clark, Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 63 Vijay Singh, Dinesh Chand (Fiji); Anders Hansen, Soren Hansen (Denmark); Paul Lawrie, Alastair Forsyth (Scotland); Andre Bossert, Marc Chatelin (Switzerland); Stephen Ames, Robert Ames (Trinidad and Tobago); Ian Woosnam, Bradley Dredge (Wales); Tim Clark, Rory Sabbatini (South Africa)

Bureau Report