Bob Estes, Tommy Armour III share lead in Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro Club

From WorldGolf.com News Services

Mistakes were few and very far in between for Bob Estes and Tommy Armour III Thursday in first-round play of the Ginn sur Mer Classic.

Both golfers fired rounds of 9-under-par 64 in soggy conditions to share the first-round lead on the Arnold Palmer Course at Tesoro Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Play was suspended due to darkness with 22 players still on the course.

Estes got off to a magical start, making birdies on his first six holes in the Fall Series event. After paring Nos. 7 and 8, Estes made his other three birdies on holes 9, 11 and 16 on his way to a bogey-free round. His 64 tied his low round of the year.

Despite what it may have looked like Thursday, Estes said the game of golf has never come easily for him.

"I'm always struggling or fighting something," Estes said in his post-round press conference. "Until I just get my mechanics more sound, I guess, the game is still always a struggle.

"I'm still pretty relaxed, but I'm still working pretty hard. It's not like I step up there and it's automatic. I'm still very focused on what I'm doing."

Estes entered the tournament coming off a tie for 18th place in last week's Fry's Electronics Open. He came in ranked No. 122 on the PGA Tour money list ($786,926) and his best finish of the year was a tie for sixth in the AT&T Classic, where he shot 11 under par.

After shooting a 64 last week in the Fry's event, Estes said he could feel his game coming around.

"I knew I was playing a little bit better," Estes said. "[I] didn't hit the ball all that well overall last week, so I had a pretty good practice session on Tuesday afternoon, made some adjustments and started playing better and obviously putted pretty well."

Estes said he's made several changes with his putting style, attempting to find out what works best for him. He's gone back from a left-hand low style to conventional, making the change after putting poorly in the U.S. Open.

He also switched putters. He tested around five different putters earlier in the week before settling on one he liked.

"I went on a little putter search and got some different putters and found one that worked pretty well," Estes said. "[I] felt comfortable with it and I was able to get the ball online, which was what I was looking for ..."

The same was true for Armour, who finished with 10 birdies and one bogey. Armour birdied holes 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 18 with his only mistake a bogey at No. 13.

"I've been playing pretty good and I just played one hole at a time - the old cliché," Armour told reporters. "Yeah, I played good."

Armour said he plans to take the same approach in the second round and hopes he can keep his momentum rolling.

"It's the second round of the tournament and got to play hard," Armour said. "I'm looking forward to it."

Craig Kanada and Daniel Chopra each shot 6-under 67 and trail by three. Frank Lickliter II, Steve Flesch, Kevin Na, Michael Putnam, Ryuji Imada, Sean O'Hair and Bryce Molder are all four strokes back after shooting 5-under 68.

October 26, 2007