Mathew Goggin, two others share first-round lead in EDS Byron Nelson Championship

From WorldGolf.com News Services

In past years, PGA Tour players have quite often had their way with the TPC Four Seasons Resort-Las Colinas. That definitely wasn't the case Thursday during first-round play on a redesigned layout for the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.

In the opening round, Mathew Goggin, Ryan Moore and Eric Axley all shot 3-under-par 67 to sit together atop the leaderboard in Irving, Texas. Their scores were the highest for an 18-hole leader on the PGA Tour this year — one shot higher than Masters champion Trevor Immelman's opening score of 4 under par at Augusta National — and the highest at the Byron Nelson Championship since 1984.

The opening-round scoring average at the newly-redesigned par-70 TPC Four Seasons was 72.410, marking the highest since 2000 (73.662). Of the 156 players in the field, just 24 managed to break par in breezy conditions.

"It's pretty brutal," Goggin told reporters. "I think it's supposed to be a brand new golf course and whenever the guys come to a new venue, I guess, there's always a bit of a feeling-out period.

"I think you'll see the scores improve over the weekend, but they didn't give us much of a break with the tee placements or the pin placements. The course was playing long ... difficult to get the ball close."

Goggin, a 33-year-old native of Tasmania, Australia, is making his 11th start of the season and enters the week with four top-20 finishes in his last six starts, including a season-best tie for seventh at the Honda Classic.

Moore, a 25 year old from Tacoma, Wash., is making his eighth start of the season and enters the week with just one top-25 finish, a tie for fifth at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Thursday marked the first time in his PGA Tour career that he has held the lead after the first round.

Axley, who celebrated his 34th birthday last Tuesday, is making his 13th start of the season. Among his five made cuts is a season-best tie for 39th at the Puerto Rico Open.

Adam Scott, Ian Poulter, Jesper Parnevik, Kevin Sutherland, Briny Baird, Shaun Micheel, Dustin Johnson and Parker McLachlin were all tied for fourth. The group is one shot back of the leaders at 2-under 68.

Scott Verplank, the 2007 tournament champion, started his title defense with a 2-over 72. Making his 22nd career start in his hometown event, Verplank is attempting to become the first repeat winner of the EDS Byron Nelson Championship since Tom Watson won three in a row from 1978-80.

Kevin Streelman, who shot 74, recorded a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th hole with a 4-iron from 184 yards. It was the first ace in the tournament since Vijay Singh on the same hole during the final round in 2005.

Perhaps the most disappointing round of the day belonged to Immelman, who shot 8-over 78 in his first competitive round since winning the Masters. The first-time major champion managed to finish ahead of just three players and admitted that the whirlwind ride he's been on since slipping on the green jacket may have caught up with him.

"I just think I've just run out of gas, you know?" Immelman told reporters. "Obviously coming here and the course is playing real tough today - it's playing long, windy and it's really tricky out there.

"Obviously we don't know the greens very well. You've got to play real well to shoot a good score out here today and I didn't have any of that going."

April 25, 2008