When the dust settled after the first round at Doral four players were tied for the lead at 64: José Maria Olazabal, Phil Mickelson, Brian Davis, and Marco Dawson. Tiger Woods was tied for fifth, one shot back with Harrison Frazar at 65.
The big guns showed up to play, and play they did. Eleven of the top twelve players in the world are at Doral. The missing man is Ernie Els, and he was busy racing into the lead at the Dubai Desert Classic half a world away.
Everyone’s eyes are on Phil Mickelson, who ended the day at 8-under 64. His wire-to-wire win at Pebble Beach just a couple of weeks ago underlines that fact that he has staying power. Mickelson was quoted as saying “when I know that the field is so strong and you’ve got guys like Tiger and Vijay and Retief and Mike Weir and David Toms, guys who are making a lot of birdies and have the ability to shoot 62 or 63, I find myself pushing to go lower. Four or five under just isn’t going to cut it with those guys in the field.” Mickelson is carving a place for himself at the very top with his performances of late.
Tiger struggled again off the tee, finding only five fairways in the opening around. His putting kept him in contention as he holed three from approximately 12 feet and a 15-foot putt for par on the last hole that kept him nipping at the heels of the leaders. Woods has not had a bogey at Doral for 60 holes. You have got to give him credit for contending in so many tournaments when he is not playing like the competition-destroying Tiger we once knew.
Vijay Singh, current World #1, opened with a 68, birdieing three of his last four holes. Vijay, dare we say it, is in a bit of a slump since winning the Sony Open earlier this year. He is still the top-ranked golfer in the world, but he needs to reassert his dominance soon if he’s going to hang on to that title for much longer.
Olazabal, coming off a season in which he lost his tour card, kept pace with the leaders by birdieing his final three holes. Not a bad way to finish the day. Davis, whose nerves were tempered in fire after taking medalist honors at last year’s Q-School, had several birdies and an eagle on the eighth to drop a 64 for a share in the lead. And finally, Marco Dawson is today’s comeback player, playing his first tournament golf since the Honda Classic one year ago after recovering from surgery on a ruptured disk.
Light winds and comfortable conditions favored the players Thursday as a first-round record 97 players went below par. If the weather turns nasty it’s not likely that the low scoring will continue. What you can look forward to is watching some very good golfers mix it up this weekend.
Pos Name Tot R1 T1 Jose Maria Olazabal -8 64 T1 Phil Mickelson -8 64 T1 Brian Davis -8 64 T1 Marco Dawson -8 64 T5 Harrison Frazar -7 65 T5 Tiger Woods -7 65 T7 Billy Andrade -6 66 T7 Hunter Mahan -6 66 T7 Paul Casey -6 66 T7 Joey Snyder III -6 66