Golf Digest US TOUR: Helped by a hole-in-one, Darren Clarke fired a five-under-par 66 in the first round of the Nissan Open at the Riviera CC, Pacific Palisades, California yesterday.
Clarke, whose ace came at the sixth holes (his 15th, having started at the 10th), was just one off the lead held by Brian Davis, winner of the US Tour qualifying school at the end of last season, as the early finishers completed their rounds.
The Dungannon man birdied the 11th and 13th on his way to the turn in one-under-par 35 after dropping a shot at the 12th. The homeward journey proved more fruitful and after birdies at the first and third he holed out his tee shot at the 199-yard sixth - the green with a bunker in the middle of it - for an inward half of 31.
Davis kicked off with a glorious long-iron to six feet for an eagle at the first and then birdied the fifth and sixth.
The expected rain arrived as Davis was on the closing stretch, but he reeled off eight pars in a row to remain in the lead at six under par.
Clarke remained alone in second place, while Lee Westwood came in with a one-under 70, David Howell a 72 and Ian Poulter a disappointing 74.
Clarke has forgotten how many holes in one that is in his life - he thinks about 25 - but at least this one came in competition. Twice last season he had them in practice for majors.
"It pitched behind the flag and trickled back in. A little bit of skill and a lot of luck," said Clarke. "Overall I didn't hit it the way I wanted to, but I ground it out and five under is a good start."
Tiger Woods, needing a top four finish to reclaim the world number one spot from Vijay Singh, birdied five of his first 10 holes, but then bogeyed the fourth and fifth to drop into a tie for seventh at three under par.
Colin Montgomerie, after a level par 71, said: "I hit the ball well tee-to-green, but the ball was not going in. I had a tap-in at the first and holed one putt in the other 17, which isn't good enough."
Woods was playing for the first time since his victory in the Buick Invitational three weeks ago and was reunited with his caddie Steve Williams, who is still recovering from injuries suffered in a car racing accident in his native New Zealand and had his left hand bandaged.
Argentine Jose Coceres, Australia's Adam Scott and American Kevin Sutherland were also among the earlier finishers joining Woods at four under.
US TOUR: Retief Goosen missed his tee time for the Pro-Am tournament and was disqualified from the Nissan Open in Los Angeles yesterday.
The South African, ranked fifth in the world, failed to get a requested wake-up call and overslept.
PGA Tour rules official Mark Russell said: "If you miss your time in the Pro-Am, you can't play in the tournament. And, you know, Retief Goosen, who is a model citizen.
"He didn't get a wake-up call and he had a 6.40 a.m. which he requested, and he was not able to make that and we put the first alternate in there.
"We never had any problem at all with Retief in any way but he just overslept, missed his time and had to suffer the consequences."
Alternate John Elliott replaced Goosen, the 2004 US Open winner.
EARLY FIRST ROUND SCORES (US unless ststed): 65 - Brian Davis (Eng) 66 - Darren Clarke (NIrl) 67 - Jose Coceres (Arg), Adam Scott (Aus), Tiger Woods, Kevin Sutherland 68 - Rod Pampling (Aus), Jerry Kelly, Steve Elkington (Aus), Bob Tway 69 - Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Rich Beem, Jeff Sluman, John Daly 70 - Patrick Sheehan, Billy Mayfair, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Tag Ridings, Zach Johnson, Lee Janzen, Hal Sutton, JL Lewis 71 - Colin Montgomerie (Sco), Danny Briggs, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Brad Faxon, Jonathan Byrd, Steve Flesch, Jim Furyk 72 - Andrew Magee, KJ Choi (Kor) 73 - Tom Byrum, Jimmy Walker, Brian Gay, Ted Purdy, John Rollins, Mark Calcavecchia, Brent Geiberger, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 74 - Tim Kite, Tommy Armour, David Duval 75 - Jay Williamson, Hank Kuehne, John Elliott 79 - Ben Curtis.
CHALLENGE TOUR: England's James Heath and Sean Whiffin set the early pace in the Panama Masters with opening rounds of four-under-par 67 yesterday. Didier De Vooght of Belgium and Mexico's Juan Salazar are tied for second on 68.
