Change good
for Watson

A short-game alteration results
in just 29 putts and the first-round
lead over Wayne Levi

KA'UPULEHU, Hawaii » A newfound putting stroke that's all of four days old and a bottle of Advil led Tom Watson down fairway lane at the giving Hualalai Golf Club.

In yesterday's opening round of the $1.6 million MasterCard Championship, Watson carded an 8-under 64 to take a two-shot lead over Wayne Levi in this winners-only event on the Champions Tour.

The 55-year-old Watson shaped his shots the way he once did when winning eight major titles on the PGA Tour. He needed only 29 putts on the picture-perfect greens that were there for the taking once the wind went low late in the afternoon.

Only eight of the 37 golfers finished out of the red, with a dozen within four shots of the lead. Five golfers are in a tie for third at 5-under 67, including 2004 leading money winner Craig Stadler, and past MasterCard champions John Jacobs and Dana Quigley.

Defending champion Fuzzy Zoeller heads a group of a half-dozen golfers who finished at 4-under 68. If the winds that greeted the early groups disappear for today's second round, expect the numbers to remain low through the weekend.

Not that a breeze at his back bothers Watson, who said he decided to change his putting stroke more out of desperation than anything else.

"You shoot low scores when you putt well," Watson said. "I changed my putting stroke when I got over here. I made an adjustment by using a flippy wrist through the impact area and all of a sudden the ball started rolling pretty true. The left-to-right putts started on line, which I've had a real hard time doing.

"As a result, a lot of putts went in the hole today. There were a few cruddy putts. But I made a lot of good strokes out there today. I was pretty happy with that part of the game. For the most part I was in play. I missed one green and had no fives on the card, which is always a goal of mine."

Watson shot a bogey-free round that included four birdies on the front, including a 45-footer at the difficult par-3 fifth, which he said was the key putt of the round. He made four more on the back and had good birdie opportunities at Nos. 17 and 18, but left them out of the cup.

Still, he was pleased with the round, especially considering his constant battle with a right shoulder and a left hip injury. He needed his bottle of Advil on the back nine to bring him home relatively pain-free.

Last fall, he thought about having surgery on his shoulder and hip, but was talked out of it by his doctors. The hip injury is the more serious of the two. His only alternative is to have a new hip put in, much like Jack Nicklaus did in 1999.

"I'm just going to try to manage it with the Advil," Watson said. "I'm sure there are going to be some days that are better than others. I scheduled it originally because I thought they could really help me. They could only help me 50 percent in the hip, so there was no point doing that."

Levi isn't facing anything that serious as he prepares for 2005. In fact, he spent most of his offseason buying and furnishing a new condo in Florida. When he first got here, he took a couple of days off, prompting his wife to ask him if he planned to practice any before the pro-am rounds.

"The first two days I was hanging around, not doing too much of anything," Levi said. "My wife was yelling at me, 'You'd better go over and practice.' I said, 'Relax, I've been practicing for a week. It's so nice over here, I'm going to take it easy.'

"On the first pro-am day on Wednesday I shot 4 under. I shot 10 under yesterday, so I've been playing quite well, so today, bingo, tack on another six. So, I don't know where all this good game came from, but I hope it stays."

Levi birdied two of the par 5s and three of the par 3s to move into contention. Last year, he played well toward the end of 2004, especially in Texas. Levi won once in 2004 en route to finishing 11th on the money list with $1.24 million in earnings. He had 10 top-10 finishes and figures to be in the thick of things today.

"I hit the ball really well today and dropped a few putts," Levi said. "Anytime you birdie three par 3s, you know you're playing well. It's no surprise to me everyone is shooting so well because you've got the best guys here. They've won tournaments, so you've got to go low or get left behind."