Apr20 Zurich Classis round one

An unknown PGA Tour rookie leads the field after the first round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Kyle Reifers, in just his seventh start on the PGA Tour and less than a year into his first pro season, made eight birdies and no bogeys for a course-record 64 and the 18-hole lead at the Tournament Players Club of Louisiana.

Nine of the last 16 winners in New Orleans – including Ian Woosnam, Lee Weswood, Carols Franco, KJ Choi and Chris Couch – have had their first PGA Tour win here, and last night Reifers said: “I’m ready,” when asked if he could finish the job.

His closest challenger was seasoned pro and 1989 British Open champion Mark Calcavecchia, who shot a 66. Calcavecchia acknowledged that even he did not know much about the man he was chasing.

“I know what he looks like,” Calcavecchia said. “I’ve introduced myself to him.”
Tim Petrovic, who won the only other PGA Tour event held on this course, in 2005, finished his round in a four-way tie for third at 67, along with Lucas Glover, Jason Schultz and Tom Johnson.

The PGA Tour stop in New Orleans has a way of bringing out the best in guys who’ve never won on the tour. And if Reifers keeps this up, he would become the fifth tour pro to get his first victory in New Orleans in the past six years.

The freckle-faced rookie, thick red hair curling out from under the sides and back of his cap, emerged from the scoring tent having no idea he had just broken the course record of 65, set in 2005 by Chris DiMarco and Arjun Atwal.

“That’s the least of my worries,” Reifers said. “It doesn’t really mean much to me right now. . . . At the end of the week, hopefully it will mean a lot.”

Reifers barely emerged from last year’s PGA Tour qualifying tournament with his tour card for 2007, making an 18-foot putt in the final stage to tie for 29th. No one who finished worse qualified for this year’s tour.

At the same time, it’s not as if he came out of nowhere. The Wake Forest graduate finished second in the 2006 NCAA championship, then turned pro immediately, winning a Tar Heel Tour event in Charlotte, N.C., the next week. One week after that, he won his first Nationwide Tour event in Chattanooga, Tenn., where he set a course record with a 61 in the final round and sank a 15-foot putt to win in a playoff.
This year, he has entered six prior events, making the cut in three of them and cracking the top 25 only once, when he tied for 12th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando a month ago.

Thursday night marked the first time the rookie would try to fall asleep knowing he was in the lead of a PGA Tour event.

“I’m more happy than nervous,” Reifers said. “That’s a good problem. It means your playing well.”