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Goosen and Perry Ernie Els doesn't really cast a long, tall shadow from here to South Africa, but don't tell that to Retief Goosen.
open at 6-under
to lead Sony
The leaderboard is packed
Baddeley enjoying youth
tight, with 23 golfers within
three strokes of the top
Age doesn't slow Perry
Golf Notebook
Complete scoresBy Paul Arnett
parnett@starbulletin.com
Paired with his countryman during yesterday's opening round of the $4.5 million Sony Open in Hawaii, Goosen stepped into the spotlight long enough to share the lead with Kenny Perry at 6-under 64.
At Waialae Country Club
First Round
Nine tied at 66
Retief Goosen 32-32 -- 64 Kenny Perry 34-30 -- 64 Chris Riley 32-33 -- 65 Chris DiMarco 34-31 -- 65 B.Pappas 32-33 -- 65
The twosome holds a one-shot lead over Chris Riley, Brenden Pappas and Chris DiMarco, and a two-shot advantage over Els and a host of other golfers who took advantage of the mild conditions at Waialae Country Club.
Goosen posted his score in the late morning, but only Perry emerged from the afternoon field to catch the South African who is four months younger and a half-club behind his more famous counterpart in Els.
At last week's Mercedes Championships, Goosen fired a 22-under 270, good enough for a tie for fourth, but trailed Els by nine shots. Els not only set the PGA Tour record in relation to par with his 31-under effort, he also slipped by Phil Mickelson into the No. 2 spot in the world behind Tiger Woods.
A large gathering followed the threesome of Els, Goosen and Korean K.J. Choi, who trailed Els last week by one shot with seven holes to go. Choi was blown away by Els the rest of the way, but still finished in a tie for second with Rocco Mediate.
Goosen broke away from his playing partners yesterday with an eagle at 18 from 15 feet. Els birdied to finish two strokes back in a tie for sixth. He shared his position with Robert Gamez, Dicky Pride, Chris Smith, Shigeki Maruyama, Chad Campbell, Peter Lonard, Fred Funk and Australian sensation Aaron Baddeley.
Choi also birdied to finish another shot back at 67. Joining him at 3-under for the tournament were 1990 Sony Open champion John Cook, Joe Durant, Loren Roberts, two-time Hawaiian Open champion Corey Pavin, Yasuharu Imano, Vijay Singh, 2002 Mercedes Championships winner Sergio Garcia, 1996 Hawaiian Open champion Jim Furyk, Andy Miller and Harrison Frazar.
Goosen was in the same threesome this afternoon and could only hope to follow up yesterday's four-birdie, one-eagle morning with an equally impressive performance. The reserved Goosen credited an accurate driver and calm conditions for his success on the par-70 course that is diametrically opposed to what the players faced last week on Maui.
The Plantation Course boasts sprawling fairways and expansive greens. This week's 144 players taking part in the first full-field event of the PGA Tour season are swinging at tight fairways, thick rough and postage-stamp greens by comparison.
"This week is a lot tougher driving course," Goosen said. "You have to stay out of the rough and position your ball on the right side of the fairway or it's hard to find the green. Last week, I got into the swing of things.
"This week I still have the feel. I played nicely. My putter went dry in the middle part of the round, but I holed a good par from 15 feet on five that got me going. The last time I was paired with Ernie was at the Johnnie Walker in Australia. He is playing very well."
Els didn't get off to a fast start. In fact, he was 2-over after five holes, but fashioned a 5-under over the remaining four holes to make the turn at 3-under. Els birdied Nos. 6-8, then managed an eagle at the ninth to get him in a groove.
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"It was not a great start; 2-over through five holes was not the start I wanted to have," Els said. "Once I made birdie on the sixth hole that kind of settled me down again. I started to play my game again."A little tough getting into the round early on mentally -- especially after last week. I was really trying to block it out, but it was tough to do. It has been a nice ride -- especially staying in Hawaii. We came over on Monday to try to get into the new event and try to put last week behind you. It was tough to do, but I was happy with the way I finished."
So was Perry, who shot a 5-under 30 on the backside, including a birdie on the 18th that drew him even with Goosen. Perry has played well in Hawaii in recent years. He was the leader after the third round of the Mercedes Championships in 2002, only to fade to third behind winner Sergio Garcia and David Toms.
The Kentucky native went to Alabama to work on his game and it paid off with what he called one of the easiest rounds of his life. Calling himself a one-dimensional player for 17 years on tour, Perry used a variety of shots to produce a round that really took off with an eagle on No. 9.
"Everything I tried today worked," Perry said. "I was kind of approaching this as a practice round. I hadn't played in eight weeks. On Monday, I came in here with my caddy and after 30 minutes I was dog tired. My arms were dragging.
"But today, everything came together at once. I hit some flawless shots. I hit some cuts into the wind, I hit some knockdown shots with more control. It's funny, but I keep getting better the older I get. This is a great way to start."
As expected, the field was bunched fairly tightly. There were 34 golfers who broke par in the morning. Another 24 joined them in the afternoon, including defending champion Jerry Kelly, who shot a 2-under 68.
Like Perry did here last year, Riley also got off to another fast start. He and Perry shot 5-under 65s to lead after the opening round in 2002. In his fifth trip to Waialae, the Nevada-Las Vegas product believes he's close to getting it right.
"This is a tough course to play in the wind," Riley said. "It blew enough yesterday afternoon to be a one-club wind. I got off to a good start last year, but I didn't play well over the weekend (to finish in a tie for 13th)."
Sony Open
