Matteson leads, Tiger lurks at Buick

BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2008 Buick Invitational | Round One | 25 Jan 2008

28-year-old Troy Matteson leads after day one of the Buick Invitational, his round of seven under 65 on the demanding South Course an impressive bounce back after missing the cut at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic last week.

Cool breezy conditions prevailed on day although the scoring generally was very good. The cut score at the completion of 36 holes appears likely to be around even par.

Matteson, leads by one over USPGA rookie Brad Adamonis while lurking one shot further back is a group at five under including the five time champion of this event, Tiger Woods, who, like Matteson, had to negotiate the more demanding South Course and served warning that win number six might not be far away. Both the North and South Courses at Torrey Pines are used on the opening two days of the event.

Matteson won the Frys.com event in late 2006 in his rookie season on the PGA Tour while Adamonis, a winner on the Nationwide Tour in 2007, is a rookie in 2008 after gaining his right to play the USPGA Tour at Tour School late last year. Adamonis played the easier North Course as did all but four of the top 20 after day one, making the rounds of both Matteson and Woods just that much more impressive.

Stuart Appleby, sporting a new look haircut, is also in the group at five under and is the leading Australian just ahead of Nathan Green who two years ago, in just his second USPGA Tour event, finished runner up to tiger Woods at this tournament.

New Zealander Tim Wilkinson has made another good start to be at three under 69 while John Senden, Rod Pampling, Nick O’Hern and Robert Allenby are at 2 under 70.

 

Position Score Player Country R 1 R 2 R 3 R 4 Total
1 -19 Tiger Woods 67 65 66 71 269
2 -11 Ryuji Imada Japan 69 72 69 67 277
T3 -9 Rory Sabbatini 67 75 70 67 279
T3 -9 Stewart Cink 68 69 69 73 279
5 -7 Justin Leonard 76 68 65 72 281
T6 -6 Joe Durant 70 70 67 75 282
T6 -6 Phil Mickelson 70 73 68 71 282
T8 -5 Fred Couples United States 71 69 71 72 283
T8 -5 John Senden Australia 70 69 72 72 283
T8 -5 Stuart Appleby Australia 67 72 71 73 283