First Round of Greenbrier Classic: Highlights
The first round of Greenbrier Classic on the PGA Tour concluded with South African Trevor Immelman on top the leaderboard with his fiery first round score of six-under, 64.
The recently renovated The Old White TPC White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, played beautifully on the first day on a fine sunny morning with some 41 players breaking par.
Immelman, the 2008 Masters winner carded seven birdies, dropping just one shot on the back nine, the par-four, 16th. The 31-year-old has been battering lingering injuries for a while and has not posted any significant round for last
three years with his only top performance at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March where he finished for a joint 12th.
“For the most part this year I've been working on some of those old feels and trying to get some consistency back,” Immelman said. “I've seen signs of some good play and some good shots at the right time. I'm just trying to stay patient with it.”
Immelman cleared the field by one shot with no fewer than five players finishing for a joint second including Billy Mayfair, Derek Lamely, Webb Simpson, Steven Bowditch and Gary Woodland, with their respective scores of five-under, 65 each.
Mayfair is in search of his maiden win on the tour and has only one promising finish for the year at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where he posted a joint eighth. He has been playing on the tour since 1998 and won his tour card in the qualifying round
in December.
Lamely is also eager to end his bad form and has missed some 25 cuts in 39 events since his victory at the Puerto Rico Open last year. He pulled in five birdies on his last six holes to push himself into contention for the second slot.
Crowd favourites Phil Mickelson, Stuart Appleby and Tom Watson opened up their rounds in the same group with Mickelson finishing for a disappointing even-par.
When asked about his lopsided first round score Mickelson replied, “That's the game plan.”
The course was redesigned after Stuart Appleby’s startling final round score of 59 last year, where he went over to win the event. Some 81 players broke par on the first day last year with some 41 breaking par again on Thursday. The renovation included lengthening
the tee-boxes and replacing the greens to make them less receptive to approach shots.
Mickelson, coming right out of his best finishes in the Open Championship where he finished runner-up, enjoyed the weekend at the course indulging in white water rafting, falconry and horseback riding.
The $6-million purse event with a winner’s prize share of $1,080,000 will move into the second round tomorrow, with a projected cut to be placed at the end of the day.
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