Gary Hallberg finishes second on day one of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship
Gary Hallberg fired a five-under par 65 in the opening round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, to finish second on the leaderboard, on Thursday, November 1, 2012.
The US$2.5 million tournament is being played at the Desert Mountain Club (Cochise) in Scottsdale, offering $440,000 prize money to the winner.
Hallberg made use of the perfect playing conditions in Arizona and started off his week with a birdie on the first hole that he played.
The very next hole witnessed him concede a bogey. However, it did not affect his confidence in his game, as he gained another three shots on the fifth, eighth and the ninth hole to reach the turn with a three-under par score.
On the back nine of the course, he remained flawless and recorded another two birdies to finish the day just one stroke behind the leader and the defending champion Jay Don Blake.
Talking to the reporters after finishing his round, Hallberg stated that the course greatly helped him post a good score on the leaderboard.
According to him, hitting the fairways was considerably an easy job. On the other hand, the greens were tricky and it was difficult to gain putts.
"The conditions are just beautiful," said Hallberg, the three-time PGA Tour winner who won his lone Champions Tour title in 2010.
"I mean perfect lies in the fairways. You could really get the ball solid. But the greens are tricky. I think that's the defense of this course".
Meanwhile, Tom Lehman, who trails Bernhard Langer by 211 points in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, carded a two-under par 68 and shared the 11th spot on the leaderboard.
The two-time winner of this season was not happy with his performance, especially with his game on the greens.
According to him, he was not able to read his putts throughout the day and lost faith in his putting in the end.
"I'm disappointed with my scoring," Lehman said. "I misread a lot of putts and when you misread your putts you start to doubt your reads and the stroke sometimes follows suit. I think it's more about commitment, committing to a line and just rolling the
putt".
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