Ryan Palmer leads opening round at the HP Byron Nelson Championship – Golf News
Ryan Palmer fired a bogey-free six-under par 64 in the opening round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship to take a one-stroke lead over Marc Leishman and Alex Cejka on Thursday, May 17, 2012.
For the last few weeks, Palmer is continuously making some really good starts in the tournaments he play.
This time he looked great again and did not allow any of his competitors to join him on top of the leaderboard.
Last year, the same tournament witnessed him lose to Keegan Bradley on the first extra hole in the playoffs.
The major cause of his loss in the tournament was his shot finding the water hazard on the course that allowed Bradley to earn the first ever victory of his career.
"I didn't lose it last year by any means," Palmer said. "But to get back in the same setting with the same people watching, here where I live, and just to have that feeling again, this time be the guy standing with the trophy, that's been my focus. That's
been my focus once I got home from Jacksonville and leading up to the start of this tournament".
Palmer made a total of six birdies in his opening round including three each on the front nine and back nine of the course.
In the meantime, http://www.pgatour.com/golfers/026851/marc-leishman/scorecards/#!/r019/2012Leishman enjoyed some of the best rounds of his career. He pared the first six holes prior to two consecutive birdies and a bogey on the front nine.
The back-nine performance was even better as he carded two eagles on the 11th and 16th holes that gave him a huge jump in the leaderboard positions.
Matt Kuchar, the winner of last week’s Players Championship, started off with a bogey on the first hole.
However, he bounced back strongly and recorded five birdies thereafter that allowed him to share the fourth position on the leaderboard.
"Coming off momentum, a little tired," said Kuchar, No. 5 in the world rankings. "It was a whole lot of extracurricular activities out of the norm for me, but I feel good about the round".
Tags: