Golf

Appleby shoots 63, leads at Byron Nelson

By wire services
Published May 13, 2005

IRVING, Texas - Stuart Appleby got behind the wheel of a Lamborghini Gallardo two weeks ago for a five-day road race in Tasmania, where his team finished 10th. John Daly got on stage with his acoustic guitar and belted out Knockin' on Heaven's Door before a packed house.

Both now are back at their day jobs.

Appleby, without a top 10 since winning the first tournament of the year, birdied his first two holes and kept right on rolling Thursday to 7-under 63 on the TPC at Las Colinas, giving him a one-shot lead over Daly, Ernie Els and Brett Wetterich in the PGA's Byron Nelson Championship.

Els showed not much has changed since he won by a career-high 13 shots two weeks ago in Shanghai. Playing with Vijay Singh, he was without a bogey on the TPC course and finished at 64.

Daly was on the easier Cottonwood Valley course and described his 64 as "mediocre" and "comfortable." That included a chip-in for birdie behind the 12th green, and holing out a bunker shot on No. 3 for birdie. The only glitch was a three-putt bogey that denied him a share of the lead.

"That was the only bad thing today," Daly said. "When I can say that on 18 holes, that's pretty good."

Els was the only member of the Big Five who showed up on the leaderboard on a good day for scoring, with cloud cover and moderate wind.

Defending champion Sergia Garcia was well back at 71.

Singh, a winner in two of his last three tournaments, at times made it look easy with seven birdies. But he dropped five shots along the way, once catching the lip of a fairway bunker and leaving himself buried in deep grass. He rallied for two birdies on the final three holes for 68.

"I played six, seven holes pretty good and six, seven holes pretty badly and six, seven holes okay," Singh said.

Tiger Woods had only two under-par holes: a 6-foot eagle on the par-5 seventh and a 30-foot birdie on the 18th, to offset two bogeys on his way to 69.

"I just couldn't make any putts," said Woods, who missed only four greens but took 32 putts. "My lines are just a little off. If I felt yippy or a twitch out there, it would be a different story, but I felt good."

Phil Mickelson had 17 pars and took 31 putts in a round of 69, and U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen shot 70.

If it seems like Appleby has disappeared since winning the Mercedes Championships Jan. 9, he has a reason. His wife gave birth to their first child in January, and he has played only seven times this year, about four below his typical schedule.

The 63 was only his fourth subpar round since Kapalua, although the Aussie was not surprised.

"I play on the PGA Tour," he said. "That's what you're supposed to be able to do, isn't it? I would say that if you started coming out here and got surprised by shooting a low score, you'd really want to evaluate your mental state."

Some might question his head for racing in his free time.

Appleby has a Lamborghini Gallardo at home in Florida, so fast cars are nothing new. He was invited to the Targa Tasmania tarmac rally May 1, shared time with another driver and finished 10th. After the race, Appleby came to this conclusion: "The car has got a fair bit more potential than I have."

Singing and playing guitar is nothing new for Daly, who released a CD a few years ago, My Life, which featured such blockbuster hits as All My Exes Wear Rolexes. At Cool River restaurant Wednesday night, he sang four numbers.

"I'm about a 20 (handicap) when it comes to doing that stuff," Daly said.

He's much better inside the ropes, especially lately. Two weeks ago, Daly birdied the last hole to get into a playoff with Singh at the Houston Open, but his tee shot took a hard bounce into the water on the first extra hole.

Daly didn't always keep it in the short grass at Cottonwood Valley, but a change in his putter to a more upright lie has put his underrated short game back in order. He needed only 26 putts.

Els doesn't do anything unusual off the golf course except for a wine business and some golf-course design. The Big Easy won this tournament 10 years ago, and thinks it might be a springboard for a run to the U.S. Open.

"I felt comfortable over the ball. I felt like I hit the ball solid," Els said. "The fairways I missed, I wasn't too far away, and the greens I missed, I wasn't too far away."

He even had some luck on his side, driving into the right rough on No. 8 but getting a good lie on a slope of patchy grass. Els fired a 7-iron through a gap in the trees to within 4 feet for birdie. He covered the flag with an 8-iron into 10 feet on the par-3 13th, and birdied the two par 5s with a routine up and down.

LPGA: England's Laura Davies, a four-time major champion who hasn't won on tour since 2001, took advantage of prime scoring conditions to shoot 66 in the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship at Eagles Landing Country Club in Stockbridge, Ga.

Annika Sorenstam shot a bogey-free 67. Karrie Webb, the last player not named Sorenstam to be ranked No. 1, also started with 5-under 67.

Cristie Kerr, coming off a victory at Kingsmill Sunday that snapped Sorenstam's record-tying run of five straight LPGA Tour wins, shot 68.

Italy's Giulia Sergas, seeking her first win on tour, shot 31 on the back nine and joined Sorenstam and Webb in a three-way tie for second. Defending tournament champion Jennifer Rosales was in contention again despite a nagging wrist injury that knocked her out of two recent tournaments, shooting 68.

EUROPEAN PGA: Scotland's Colin Montgomerie made triple-bogey 7 on his final hole, costing him a share of the lead in the British Masters in Meriden, England.

Englishmen David Howell, Brian Davis, David Lynn and Ben Mason opened with 3-under 69 on the Forest of Arden course for a one-shot lead.

Montgomerie ended up with 72, driving into the trees on No. 9 and three-putting from 21/2 feet.

PRO-ASSISTANT: Roger Hebert sank an 8-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole as he teamed with Mike Touhey to win the 11th annual Titleist Foot-Joy State PGA Pro-Assistant Championship at the World Golf Village at St. Augustine. Hebert and Touhey, representing the Tarpon Springs Driving Range, tied at 13-under-par 131 with Michael Dero and Trey Sones of Quail Creek Country Club in Naples and Sean Gorgone and Joe Peroglio of Sweetwater Highlands Country Club in Apopka. Hebert and Touhey each earned $1,427.59.

[Last modified May 13, 2005, 00:57:16]