CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The tournament is new, not the players leading it.
Fred Couples and Nick Price helped get the Wachovia Championship off to a smashing start Thursday, each posting 6-under-par 66 on a Quail Hollow course that left most players wondering if the U.S. Open had moved to May.
"I wouldn't be surprised if in the future there would be a U.S. Open or a PGA on this course, because they can make it as hard as they want to," Price said.
It wasn't a brute, not with rain soaking the course for three days leading up to the opening round. Still, Couples was looking ahead to what the next three days might hold.
"You can see what's going to happen," he said. "It's going to firm up, and all this 66 stuff is going to go away."
Couples and Price took advantage while they could, getting around with a different style of game that gave them a one-stroke lead over PGA champion Rich Beem.
In his first start since winning the Houston Open to end a five-year drought, Couples played bogey-free at Quail Hollow and holed two long birdie putts to be in the lead for the fourth straight round on tour.
"I'm riding this wave and playing well," he said.
Price is on a high as well. Two days ago, he was introduced as the latest member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, and he cautioned tour officials not to etch in stone his 18 victories on the PGA Tour. He might have at least another one left in him.
Price birdied four of his last seven holes, saving par with an 8-foot putt on No. 9.
It was a prime example why he's not bothered by a course that measures 7,396 yards. Price had 201 yards left to the green, but was able to hit a low iron that ran up and just over the putting surface.
"It's a straightforward, honest golf course," Price said. "There is no goofiness to it. You get what you play here. I think that's what we all look for on a great course."
ASAHI RYOKUKEN INTERNATIONAL: Rosie Jones and Sophie Gustafson each shot 6-under 66 to lead the LPGA Tour event in North Augusta, S.C.
Pat Hurst was third with 67 and Laura Diaz and Wendy Ward were tied with young Mexican star Lorena Ochoa and Giulia Sergas at 68. In all, 17 of the top 26 players in the opening round were Americans.
"I haven't been winding down," said Jones, 43. "I'm just getting ready."
BENSON & HEDGES: David Dixon shot 6-under 66 for a one-stroke lead over Padraig Harrington after the first round of the European PGA Tour event in Sutton Coldfield, England.
Defending champion Angel Cabrera and Henrik Stenson, the 2001 winner, were tied for third after opening 68s.
NICHIREI CUP: Annika Sorenstam shot 6-under 66 in rough conditions to take a share of the lead with Junko Yasui after the first round of the Japan LPGA Tour event in Tokyo.
U.S. OPEN QUALIFYING: Three Florida golfers shot 3-under 69 to lead eight players who advanced to sectional qualifying for the 2003 U.S. Open Championship.
Joseph Alfieri of Lutz, Bryan Clarke of Pensacola,and Doug La Cross of Tampa were co-medalists in the local qualifier at the Westin Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor. Daniel Stone of St. Petersburg also qualified.
