Bohn by two but Owen chasing at Zurich Classic
Jason Bohn played a near flawless round at TPC Louisiana to lead by two strokes at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans after yesterday's first round.
Bohn carded eight birdies, three coming in succession on the 11th, 12th and 13th - only to blot his copybook slightly at the last, with a bogey on the 18th, making for a final score of 65. Before that error, Bohn had been headed for a course record of 63.
Among those close behind the American was England's Greg Owen (pictured), who could also have finished with a better score if not for lapses at the end. After collecting seven birdies over the first 14 holes, Owen also carded bogeys on the 16th and 18th to finish five-under-67, in a five-way tie for second place.
David Duval has known the extremes of both ends of the leaderboard over his career, the former world No. 1 having won the Open in 2001 - but since then, his ranking has plummeted, with the American even losing his PGA Tour card last year. Playing on a sponsor's exemption here, the 38-year-old looked to be approaching something like his old form, tied for seventh at four-under-68 with three birdies on the opening four holes and no slip-ups elsewhere.
KJ Choi came home with the same score; the South Korean was impressive at the Masters a few weeks ago when he kept pace with Tiger Woods through the 72 holes, and Choi had a good round again yesterday, with one exception - a double bogey on the 9th that detracted slightly from the six birdies he also picked up.
Another Englishman, Justin Rose, is in the hunt too, two-under and tied for 23rd place, while fellow countryman Brian Davis is a shot further back on one-under; Davis missed out on his first PGA Tour win last week when calling a penalty on himself that awarded the Verizon Heritage to Jim Furyk.
John Daly, playing on a sponsor's exemption, performed reasonably well, after a mixed bag of birdies and bogeys left the two-time major winner back where he started on par. We might have expected worse from Daly, given his performances over the last few years, but we still expect better from Spain's Sergio Garcia, who could only finish one-over-73 after a woeful start.
The 30-year-old hit a double bogey and a bogey on the 2nd and 3rd - and another double followed on the 12th, though Garcia also hit four birdies to keep things at least slightly respectable. The Spaniard still looks in danger of missing the cut, however.
The field at New Orleans was slightly depleted, after both Steve Stricker (No. 3 in the world) and Ian Poulter (No. 6) pulled out of the competition earlier this week, Stricker with a right shoulder injury, Poulter because of an injury to his left knee. Poulter expects to be fit for the Player's Championship in Florida on May 6th-9th.
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