June22 PGA travelers

The scoreboard at the Travelers Championship made the US Open seem like a distant memory.

A week after only eight sub-par rounds were carded at the U.S. Open, 62 players broke par on Thursday before play was suspended with 39 golfers still on the course.

“This is what golf should be,” said Chris DiMarco, whose 64 was only good enough for second place. “It shouldn’t be about plus 20s and plus 25s. I think the fans, if we started doing that every week, I think we would lose our fans. I think they want to see us make birdies.”

Hunter Mahan showed them a lot of those. Mahan, who finished second here a year ago, shot an 8-under par 62, one shot off the course record, to take the first-round lead before play was suspended for the night at just after 7pm.

It was his sixth consecutive round in the 60s at the TPC at River Highlands. “It’s one of the courses that you look at it and you feel comfortable,” he said. “There’s not really a shot here that I worry about.”

Mahan shot a 31 on his first nine holes, made par at number 10, then birdied his next four holes. A rain delay of over an hour didn’t seem to faze him, as he came back out and birdied 17. That run allowed him to overtake early leader Chris DiMarco, who shot a 6-under par 64 despite an ailing shoulder.

“I hit a ton of good golf shots today,” Mahan said. “But it’s just the first round. We’ve got a long way to go.”

Mahan’s round tied his best ever, which he shot during the third round of the 2003 Valero Texas Open. His previous best this year was a second-round 65 at the Buick Invitational. He’s had two top-10 finishes this year, but has never won on tour.

“If I can build on my score from today, I feel I have a pretty good shot,” he said.
The course record is 61, held by four players, including two-time champion Phil Mickelson, who withdrew from this year’s tournament because of an ailing left wrist.

When play was suspended for the night because of threatening weather, there were 39 golfers still on the course. They were to finish their rounds Friday morning.

The best shot of Thursday came from Craig Perks of New Zealand, who used a 6 iron to ace the 202-yard par-three eighth hole. His blind tee shot went over the water and rolled into the cup.

Defending champion JJ Henry, who is from Fairfield, Conn., shot a 2-under 68.
Masters champion Zach Johnson shot a 1-over 71, and Vijay Singh came in at 2-under, 68.

Singh came into the tournament in third place in the race for the Fedex Cup. He has a chance to make up ground on Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, neither of whom are playing at the Travelers.