Notebook, Round 1: Turning Stone Championship

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Aug. 5, 2010
By Adam Wallace

Weather: Showers and thunderstorms in the morning. Partly cloudy skies in the afternoon with a high of 85. Winds W 10-20 mph.

Play was suspended at 8:37 a.m. due to dangerous weather conditions. Play resumed at 11:20 a.m. for a total delay of two hours and 43 minutes. Play was suspended due to darkness at 8:02 p.m. with 24 players still on the course. The remaining players will tee off at 7:40 a.m. on Friday morning to complete the first round. The second round will start as scheduled at 7:10 a.m.

This is the third consecutive year there has been a suspension of play at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. This is the 20th event this year to have a suspension of play. There were a total of 15 in all of 2009.

Omar Uresti and Rory Sabbatini share the lead at 7-under 65. Brian Davis, Alex Cejka, Steve Elkington, Brad Faxon and Chris Tidland (on his 16th hole) are one stroke back at 6-under par. Seven players are two strokes back at 5-under par.

Rory Sabbatini (65, -7) T1

Sabbatini's 7-under-par 65 is his lowest first-round score on the PGA TOUR in 2010 and the third-lowest opening-round score of his TOUR career. His round included seven birdies and 11 pars. He has shot 63 in the opening round twice in his career, the 2003 Valero Texas Open and in 2007 at The Barclays. He has shot 64 in the opening round twice as well, the 2001 Invensys Las Vegas Classic and the 2003 Bank of America Colonial.

Sabbatini's 65 on Thursday is his best score at Atunyote. He shot 66 in the second and final round's last year.

Sabbatini has held the 18-hole lead/co-lead eight previous times in his career. The last time he held the lead after the first round was the 2009 BMW Championship where he went on to finish T18. He has never won an event where he has held the first-round lead. Sabbatini is seeking to become the first non-American to win the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

Sabbatini hit all 18 greens in regulation in round one. Sabbatini is currently 114th on TOUR in greens in regulation.

Sabbatini has made 11 cuts in 18 starts this year. He entered this week at No. 58 on the FedExCup point standings. Sabbatini's best finish this year is second at the SBS Championship.

Omar Uresti (65, -7) T1

Omar Uresti's 7-under-par 65 equaled his career best first-round score on the PGA TOUR. He also had seven birdies en route to posting his low round of the year. Uresti's first round score is one-stroke shy of matching his career low round of 64.

Uresti, an Austin, Tex., native, has held the 18-hole lead/co-lead twice previously in his career. Uresti shared the first-round lead at the 1996 MasterCard Colonial, eventually finishing T38. He also shared the lead after round one at the 2008 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, however, he went on to miss the cut.

Uresti, who finished T15 at Q-School last year, has made eight cuts in 20 starts this year. He entered this week at No. 174 on the money list with $263,720. Uresti's best finish this year is T8 at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Brian Davis (66, -6) T3

Davis has been in the top 5 after the first round eight previous times in his career.

Davis is making his third consecutive start at the Turning Stone Resort Championship and Thursday's bogey-free 6-under 66 is his lowest opening round effort.

Davis has made 10 cuts in 22 starts this year. His best finish came at the Verizon Heritage where he lost to Jim Furyk in a one hole playoff.

Miscellaneous Stats

Sabbatini (65), Uresti (65), Cejka (66), Davis (66), Faxon (66), Elkington (66), Robert Garrigus (68), Brent Delahoussaye (69) and Jerry Kelly (70) posted bogey-free rounds at the par-72 Atunyote Golf Club. Todd Hamilton, who is three-under par through 17 holes, is also bogey-free.

Brendon de Jonge, the highest ranked player in the FedExCup point standings (20) in the field, shot a first-round 70. He has five top-15 finishes in his last seven starts.

The first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win just 7 of 32 stroke-play events on the PGA TOUR in 2010, most recently Matt Bettencourt at the Reno-Tahoe Open. The first-round leader has yet to go on to win this event in the three year history.

The Kodak Challenge holes this week are the par-3 16th at Atunyote which played 177-yards in the first round and the par-5 16th at the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club. The competition celebrates beautiful holes and memorable moments on the PGA TOUR. Players must play at least 18 of the 30 Kodak Challenge holes throughout the season to compete for $1 million and the Kodak Challenge title. A player's lowest score relative to par on his best 18 Kodak Challenge holes will be counted. Kodak Challenge leader Rickie Fowler, at 12-under, has led for 14 consecutive weeks.

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