AT&T Classic round one: Welcome to golf's Who's Not Who

You won’t find many of Thursday’s leaders in the various expert picks for this competition. I’ve rarely seen such a collection of has-beens and haven’t-beens leading a tournament, at least until the fag-end of the season.

I had toyed with the idea before the start of going for Tommy Armour III, based on a decent set of stats, but thought better of it. What has thrown a lot of people, it seems, is the tournament’s shift to May, which means the course is far drier and faster.

Although it’s length is still a challenge, the shorter hitters are helped by the racy fairways. The only one of the first 10 players also in the top 10 for distance is Stephen Marino, whose measured drives are reaching 320ft plus. The others are well down the pecking order, although still hitting it to around 300ft. That’s a lot further than many of their recent stats would suggest they can do.

Hitting almost 90% of greens in regulation is what has left Kevin Sutherland on top after round one. But he had the advantage of going out early, before the wind started making things difficult. He should find a tougher challenge awaiting him Friday afternoon.

It’s interesting to see Joe Ogilvie among the leaders. Is he at last awakening from a long slumber? In his last six outings he’s missed the cut four times and finished 80th and 62nd in the other two.

But if I was Rory Sabbatini and Stewart Cink, sitting four and five shots off the pace respectively, I’d be thinking this one is there for the taking. Both have the advantage Friday of going out in the morning so they might be worth some fresh in-play support.

And if I was Jonathan Byrd I would still be kicking myself for the double bogey at the last that spoiled an otherwise excellent round, that included an eagle. Plus ca change, as they say.