Weir in the driving seat
2006-08-04 08:48
Michigan - Canadian Mike Weir fired a nine-under 63 here on Thursday to upstage two-time defending champion Vijay Singh and British Open champ Tiger Woods in the rain-disrupted first round of the Buick Open.
Singh posted an eight-under 64 for sole possession of second place, one shot in front of Joe Durant, Woody Austin and Brett Quigley.
Woods, playing for the first time since claiming his 11th major title and 49th PGA Tour victory at the British Open, posted a 66 before inclement weather brought the first round to a halt with more than half the field yet to finish.
Woods started on the back nine and got off to a fast start with five straight birdies.
Woods then two-putted the long first hole to move to six-under.
"It's awfully fun when that happens," Woods said of his sizzling start. "I did start off on the easier of the two sides, though, and got it going early. Just couldn't keep it going."
After picking up another stroke at the seventh, Woods bogeyed the 199-yard eighth for a six-under total.
Weir was out in front by then with five straight birdies of his own from the 13th hole.
'It was a great round'
"It was a great round," Weir said. "I think the key on this golf course is to drive it in the fairway, and I did that well today. I may have hit one ball in the first cut maybe all day, and that was it."
Singh matched four of those birdies and then added another on the final hole to move two shots ahead of Woods.
"I just played well today and made some nice putts to get it going," Singh said. "The par-fives were a little easier today. They moved some of the way forward so that you could get to them pretty comfortably, and I birdied all of them."
Like Woods, Singh also started on the back nine and responded to Woods' early burst by recording four birdies in a row from the 13th.
"It's a golf course where you have to produce a lot of birdies," Singh said. "If I had not made eight or nine birdies today, I would have been pushing it tomorrow. Now that I am eight-under, I can go out there and stay a little more comfortable and take the birdies a little bit more easy."
Woods has finished in the top four in each of his last four visits here, including a victory in 2002.
But Singh is the king of the Buick Open. Last year the Fijian became the first three-time winner and first player to successfully defend his title here since Tony Lema in 1964-1965.
Ranked No 3 in the world, Singh failed to make the cut at the British Open two weeks ago with a two-over 146.