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Ogilvy ties Singh with 64 at Buick Challenge

PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga. - Geoff Ogilvy wasn't expecting much in the Buick Challenge.

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 26, 2001

PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- Geoff Ogilvy wasn't expecting much in the Buick Challenge.

"I just wanted to put in four rounds and go home with some spending money for Christmas," he said.

Ogilvy will have to set his sights much higher after opening with a career-best 64 Thursday, tying Vijay Singh for the lead at Callaway Gardens.

Five players were one shot back in the final chance to qualify for the Tour Championship.

Ogilvy is too far back to make that elite field. He ranks 92nd on the money list -- the top 30 get in -- and came to the rolling hills of west Georgia playing out a difficult rookie season on the PGA Tour.

"I'm not going to lie," the 24-year-old Australian said. "I have been very ready to get back to Australia. I have been counting down the last few weeks."

Singh has been counting the weeks too, but only because he knows there are only two chances left to avoid his first winless season since 1996.

"I've not led a golf tournament in so long, I don't know what it feels like," said Singh, who is fourth on the money list.

Ogilvy hardly resembled the player who has made the cut seven times in 22 events. His day started with a miserable session on the driving range -- "I was actually hitting the ball the worst I have all year," he said -- but he turned things around quickly with birdies on the first two holes of the 7,057-yard Mountain View course.

"I stopped hitting balls on the range because I was hitting it so bad," he said. "It was probably a blessing."

Joel Edwards, Neal Lancaster, Mike Sposa, Per-Ulrik Johansson and Danny Ellis shot 65.

WORLD MATCH PLAY: Laura Davies recovered from bogeys on the first two holes for a 2-up victory over Chieko Amanuma in the first round in Narita, Japan. Davies faces Emilee Klien in today's second round. The 38-year-old Davies is after a repeat victory: She beat Janice Moodie 5 and 4 in last year's final. In other first-round matches, Annika Sorenstam beat Mineko Nasu 3 and 2 and Se Ri Pak beat Michiko Hattori 2 and 1. Sorenstam faces Michele Redman today, and Pak faces Moodie, a 4 and 3 winner over Michie Oba. "It does not really matter who I play, because all I can do is play the best I can. I will focus on my own game," said Sorenstam, the leading money winner on the LPGA Tour this this season. "I know Michele is a good player and she will play well."

SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP: Bob Gilder shot 5-under 67 to take the lead after the first round in Oklahoma City. Gilder, who tied for second Sunday in San Antonio and tied for fourth a week earlier in Napa, Calif., had a bogey-free round and was one ahead of Tom Kite. Bruce Summerhays and Jim Ahern were another shot back at 3 under. Gilder got going with a 25-foot eagle putt on the par-5 third and added three birdies. Allen Doyle, trying to secure the money title, played the front nine in 3 over and wound up with 73.

MADRID OPEN: Padraig Harrington shot 8-under 63 for a one-stroke lead after the first round of the European PGA Tour event in Spain. The score matched the course record, but it won't count because players were allowed to lift, clean and place their balls on the sodden fairways at Club de Campo. Harrington has not won since taking this title last year. Stephen Gallacher shot 64, and Carlos Rodiles, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Des Smyth shot 65.

BUY.COM TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP: Don Reese, the final player in the 55-man field, shot 4-under 68 for a one-stroke lead after the first round in Prattville, Ala. Reese, at 47 the oldest player in the field, birdied five of the first eight holes. He entered the tournament 55th on the money list with $79,913 -- $70,049 behind Todd Barranger for the 15th and final exempt spot on the PGA Tour. This weekend's winner earns $108,000. Australia's Rod Pampling was the only other player to break 70 in windy conditions on Capitol Hill's 7,656-yard Senator Course, the longest layout ever in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. Eric Meeks and Tim Petrovic opened with 70, and money-leader Chad Campbell was among a five-player group three back. Tampa's Brian Kamm shot 74.

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