Nick Price shows his class on the first day in Toshiba Classic, ties Champions Tour record
The Champions Tour event of Toshiba Classic commenced at the par-71, Newport Beach Country Club in California on 11 March, 2011. Nick Price of Zimbabwe was in superb form and carded a round of eleven-under par, 60 to lead the championship after the first round.
Price has loads of experience on his shoulders and showed his class on the first day. He is a seasoned campaigner and shot the best round in his career. The score card of the veteran clearly shows that his hot putter and irons favoured him.
The 54-year old fired seven birdies and two eagles and was amazing to watch. Both the par-5’s turned out to be good ones for him as he managed to card two eagles in his last four holes.
It was simply astonishing to watch the three-time major champion play such brilliant golf. He already has three victories playing on the Champions tour and a total of 48 professional wins in his career. The stats of the leader, clearly shows that he was looking in the best form of his career. Price also matched the course record of eleven-under which was set by Tom Purtzer seven years back, also tying the record score of the Champions Tour.
The overwhelmed Price said after his round, "There was a flash in my mind when I eagled 15, I sort of thought to myself, if I birdie the last three holes, I can break 60," Price said. "I've never done that before."
There is a four-way tie for the second spot. Some of the experienced players like Bernhard Langer, Mark O’Meara, Mark Wiebe and Brad Bryant all had a similar score of six-under par, 65. They trail by a big margin of five strokes over the leader.
Langer from Germany is an experienced veteran and has been playing golf since a while now. His card showed nine birdies, one bogey and a double-bogey. The long par-3, 4th really troubled him as his tee shot was way off the green. Langer had to be content with a double bogey. The German still managed to finish with a superb under-par round and was happy with the way he was striking the ball. The two-time Masters Champion is hoping to catch the leader who is way ahead after the first round.
O’Meara is another experienced campaigner who also carded a round of six-under par, 65. He was exquisite in his shot making and had no drop shot on his card. The former Masters champion had six birdies on his card and was putting smoothly.
It is expected that the top players like Langer and O’Meara will try to match the challenge of the inform Price. All these players have had a couple of major victories among them and are playing impressive golf.
The second day of the Championship will tee off today and Price is confident of continuing his birdie momentum in the next two rounds to win the prized trophy.
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