Sabbatini in the lead at The Barclays

2007-08-23

Share this article:  Digg |  StumbleUpon |  del.icio.us |  Reddit

HARRISON, New York (Ticker) -- Rory Sabbatini carded eight birdies and played bogey-free golf to take the lead with an8-under-par 63 in Thursday's first round of the $7 millionBarclays Classic.

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

"You know, the course, it's playing easy right now," Sabbatinisaid. "There's no wind out there, and you know, it's prettymuch shooting darts at the flags. The greens are receptive andyou know, where you land the drives, that's where the ball isgoing to hit. So in a sense it's making it play pretty easy. Alittle longer, but still pretty easy."

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.

When asked if Beem took advantage of the conditions, he laughed.

"Hard to believe that I didn't, shooting 64," Beem said. "Yeah,I'd say that the conditions were very optimal for scoringtoday."

The quartet of two-time Westchester winner Ernie Els, Brian Gay,Steve Flesch and Carl Pettersson are at 6-under.

Phil Mickelson, who is tied with six other golfers at 4-under,is trying to concentrate on golf, and let the playoff pointsprocess take care of itself.

"Yeah, we don't think too much about the points right nowbecause the only way to get points is to play well and finishhigh up in an event," Mickelson said. "So the best thing to dois try to win, and if you win, you get a lot of points."

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.