The Barclays round one: Let's all have a go at Tiger

It’s obviously kick a Tiger week. There was an interesting discussion with Steve Flesch about the golfing work ethic after his solid 6-under performance Thursday. This is the 26th event he’s played this year and he was almost apologetic about having skipped last week to recover from the PGA “inferno". It’s only the second time this year he has missed an event he’s eligible for. You might think, now he has pocketed half a million dollars from the Reno-Tahoe Open, he’s entitled to relax a bit, but he doesn’t see it that way. Instead, he has a hard time understanding those players who get “exhausted” after playing just a couple of events.

“You play two weeks, you fly in on your G2, you fly home on your G2 for two weeks, I don’t know how tired you can really be. I’m not in the shape all those top guys are, but two weeks, being exhausted, I don’t know. And I’m not only referring to Tiger.”

It’s certainly not Flesch’s style: “I’m on Freddie Funk’s game plan. I just kind of play because I like to play.”

He can be excused his post-PGA slacking anyway - he lost 7lb in the heat of Tulsa. For a while, though, that break looked like paying off as Flesch took the clubhouse lead in the first round. A few other players had other ideas, however, notably Rory Sabbatini who, with no Tiger Woods around to whoop his ass, played some hot golf to hit the front.

Westchester isn’t playing quite as intended because of the fairly relentless soaking it has had this week. Weather forecasts suggest it is going to continue a bit damp and murky - and crucially relatively windless - at least until the weekend, when the sun might come out to toughen things up. As things stand, we look to be in for the usual game of Friday bunching up.

It’s a pretty healthy looking leaderboard for day one. Ernie Els was magnificent off the tee; it’s just a pity his putter didn’t get the message or he could have been one or two clear of Sabbatini. What worries me is that Ernie still talks like a man who’s not entirely sure he can do it.

K J Choi looks to be fully fighting fit again, Carl Pettersson has picked up where he left off last week and Adam Scott is back in the groove. I might also have to revise my opinion of Phil Mickelson’s end-of-season performance levels. Particularly interesting, though, is the suggestion that Luke Donald has overcome the hitch of getting hitched and Retief Goosen may also be turning the corner.

Tournaments aren’t won but can be lost on the first day, so they say, and Vijay Singh looks a case in point. I wonder what odds you would have got on him hitting four over. As for Stuart Appleby, no way am I having whatever he eats for breakfast.

PS: An amusing bit of South African one-upmanship. Els talking about his relationship with Sabbatini and his brother Gary said: “They were up for the fight, so to speak, always.” Rory’s response? “I met [Els] for the first time when he was 18. I introduced myself and he goes, ‘Now you can tell everybody else you met Ernie.’ Maybe it’s just a South African thing.”