Sabbatini has oneshot lead at The Barclays

2007-08-24

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HARRISON, New York (Ticker) -- Rory Sabbatini let his game do his talking on Thursday.

Sabbatini will carry a one-stroke lead into the second round ofthe $7 million Barclays Classic on Friday.

Known as much for his brash talk as his game, Sabbatini cardedeight birdies in a bogey-free round on Thursday to move to thetop of the leaderboard with an 8-under-par 63.

The South African made his push right before the start of theback nine, posting four birdies in a six-hole stretch at theWestchester County Club's West Course.

South Korea's K.J. Choi also made eight birdies, including fouron the final five holes, but his bogey on No. 3 accounted forhis only blemish. He finished at 7-under and is tied with RichBeem.

Starting on the back nine, Beem was 1-under through eight holesbefore carding an eagle on the 18th. He also finished strong,recording birdies on four of his final five holes.

Choi and Beem are just in front of a quartet of two-timeWestchester winner Ernie Els, Brian Gay, Steve Flesch and CarlPettersson at 6-under.

Phil Mickelson, who has finished no better than 32nd sincewinning the Players Championship in May, is tied with six othergolfers at 4-under.

The Barclays Classic is the first leg of the inaugural FedExCupplayoff series.

There is plenty of incentive since a $10 million bonus will beawarded to the points leader of the series played over fourstraight weeks, ending with the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

One player missing among this week's 144 entries is world No. 1Tiger Woods, who has cited fatigue following a busy summerschedule. He won the PGA Championship two weeks ago at steamySouthern Hills.

Each tournament in the series features a $7 million purse and a$1.26 million first prize. The other tournaments in the playoffseries are the Deutsche Bank Championship, the BMW Championshipand the Tour Championship.

Three-time Barclays winner Vijay Singh, who started on the backnine, ran into trouble with three bogeys and a double-bogey in afour-hole stretch. He is at 4-over, tied for 116th place.