First-round notebook – THE BARCLAYS
* Steve Marino, Paul Goydos and Sergio Garcia are tied for the lead with 6-under 65s after round one of The Barclays. They are one stroke ahead of Webb Simpson, Fredrik Jacobson, Heath Slocum and Charley Hoffman at 5-under. Padraig Harrington, Ian Poulter and David Toms are at 4-under.*Sergio Garcia has held the 18-hole lead/co-lead seven previous times in his career, most recently the 2008 PLAYERS Championship, which he went on to win, marking the only time Garcia has won an event after holding the first-round lead/co-lead.
*Sergio Garcia jumped 26 spots from No. 115 to No. 89 on the FedExCup standings with his fourth-place at the Wyndham Championship last week to enter the top-100 for the first time this season.
*Sergio Garcia has played every Barclays event this decade. Garcia owns a great record at The Barclays with two wins (2001, 04) and a playoff loss to Vijay Singh last year. His victory in 2004 came at the third extra hole of a playoff, defeating Padraig Harrington and Rory Sabbatini. The only time Garcia has finished outside the top-25 at this event was 2006 when he withdrew after a first-round 73.
*Sergio Garcia’s three lowest rounds this year, relative to par, have come in his last four rounds. Thursday’s opening-round at The Barclays of 6-under 65 match the back-to-back 6-under 64s in rounds two and three at last week’s Wyndham Championship where he finished in fourth place.
*Paul Goydos has previously held the first-round lead/co-lead four times in his career, most recently at the 2009 Valero Texas Open, where he finished T3. Here’s a look at his results after holding the first-round lead/co-lead.
Year Tournament Finish
1996 Bay Hill Invitational Win
1996 NEC World Series T23
1999 U.S. Open T12
2009 Valero Texas Open T3
*Paul Goydos is contesting The Barclays for the 13th time in his career, making six cuts with three top-20 finishes (T11/1996, T13/1993, T16/2000). His previous-best opening round in The Barclays was 66 in 1998.
*Paul Goydos has shot 63 in the first-round twice this season. The first came at the Valero Texas Open where he finished tied for third and the second was at the Travelers Championship where he posted a tie for second. Goydos was co-leader (with Justin Leonard) after round one in Texas, his most-recent first-round lead.
*Paul Goydos entered The PGA Tour PLAYOFFS for the FedExCup at No. 49 in the standings with 725 points.
*With his first-round 65 at The Barclays Steve Marino, No. 30 in the FedExCup points standings, has now shot 65 in the first-round eight times in his PGA Tour career but never lower. His most-recent opening-round 65 came at the 2009 Bob Hope Classic where he eventually finished T25.
*Steve Marino has previously held the first-round lead/co-lead once in his career after shooting 65 at the 2008 AT&T National, eventually finishing T24.
*This marks Steve Marino’s third start in The Barclays (T69/2007, MC/2008).
*The first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win 7 of 36 times this season, most recently Kenny Perry at the Travelers Championship.
*This marks the fourth consecutive year at The Barclays for Charley Hoffman. After missing the cut in 2006 Hoffman, No. 28 on the FedExCup standings, finished T48 in 2007 and T38 last year. Thursday’s 5-under 66 is his low round at this event, bettering last year’s first-round 67.
*Charley Hoffman was one of seven players to record an eagle-3 at the par-5 6th hole in the first round.
*Charley Hoffman had made 26 consecutive cuts through the 2009 John Deere Classic before missing three consecutive cuts at his next three starts (British Open, Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, PGA Championship) before finishing T71 at the Wyndham Championship last week.
*Charley Hoffman stated his goal this season was to finish in the top-30 of the FedExCup and make it to THE Tour Championship, which he has yet to achieve in his career.
*Tiger Woods (70) is making his fifth start at The Barclays. His Tournament-best finish is T13 in 2003, the last time he contested the event. Woods, who started on No. 10, was bogey-free until the 7th hole (his 15th) where he posted his lone bogey.
*The Barclays is one of only three PGA Tour events in which Tiger Woods has made at least three starts yet failed to record a victory (Northern Trust Open/11 starts, FBR Open/3 starts).
*Tiger Woods finished T4 at the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol GC in Springfield, NJ, his only previous start in a PGA Tour or PGA Tour co-sanctioned event in New Jersey. Should he win this week, New Jersey will become the 17th different state in which Woods has won a Tour event.
*Heath Slocum, No. 124 in the FedExCup standings coming into The Barclays, birdied his final four holes (Nos. 6-9) to be tied at 5-under with Webb Simpson (No. 85) and Fredrik Jacobson (No. 107).
*Here’s a look at this year’s four major championship winners performances:
Angel Cabrera The Masters 72
Lucas Glover U.S. Open 75
Stewart Cink British Open 70
Y.E. Yang PGA 71
*Robert Allenby (68) is one of 10 players who have made a start in each of the nine events in the history of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedExCup. Here’s a look at the ten, their first-round scores, and previous FedExCup finishes:
Player 2007 FedExCup Finish 2008 FedExCup Finish
Robert Allenby (68) 23 19
K.J. Choi (73) 5 10
Stewart Cink (70) 22 20
Tim Clark (71) 21 16
Jim Furyk (69) 11 4
Sergio Garcia (65) 9 3
Hunter Mahan (72) 15 18
Vijay Singh (75) 10 1
Steve Stricker (69) 2 14
Camilo Villegas (75) 24 2
*Five players moved into The Playoffs for the FedExCup with top-25 performances at last week’s Wyndham Championship. Here’s a look at their first-round scores:
Player Wyndham Finish Advanced FedExCup Rank The Barclays Round 1
Kevin Stadler T2 57 spots 76 76
David Mathis T17 8 spots 118 79
Chris Riley T13 10 spots 119 72
Todd Hamilton T24 7 spots 121 71
Jeff Maggert T13 13 spots 123 71
*Paul Casey, who withdrew from The Barclays with a rib injury, had played 12 events to be No. 18 in the FedExCup standings, the fewest number of events of anyone in the top-30. Tiger Woods, ranked No. 1, and Masters winner Angel Cabrera (No. 27), both played 13 events.
*Troy Matteson, the last player in the field at No. 125, posted 71 after beginning with a double bogey at his first hole, the 10th.
*Ernie Els, No. 47 on the FedExCup standings, was 4-over after four holes before posting five birdies in a seven-hole stretch to get back to 1-under through 12 holes. Two late bogeys had the South African in at 1-over 71. Els has five top-10s this season, including a T8 at the British Open and T6 at the PGA Championship.
*The par-4 16th hole played 331-yards in the first round. Dustin Johnson was the only player to drive the green (1 of 7 who tried), two-putted from just under 85 feet, holing a 19-footer for birdie.
*Liberty National is the only first-time, stroke-play venue on the 2009 PGA Tour schedule.
*Any player ranked 42nd or bettercannot mathematically fall below 100th this week and is certain to advance to next week’s Deutsche Bank Championship.
*Only three bogey-free rounds were recorded in the first round – Padraig Harrington (67), Justin Leonard (68) and Lee Janzen (68).
*Chris Stroud (77), who was No. 117 on the FedExCup standings, withdrew after the completion of the first round.
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