THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 12, 1996 TAG: 9607120614
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 79 lines
The honchos of the Michelob Championship at Kingsmill could not have ordered up a better first round Thursday.
They had pleasant weather without the customary stifling humidity that characterizes this tournament.
They had a leaderboard bereft of the no-names and PGA Tour lesser-lights the field is teeming with. At the top are recognizable veterans like Scott Hoch, who leads at 7-under 64, followed by host pro Curtis Strange and Fred Funk at 65. Fourteen players are within three shots of the lead.
Were it not for an approaching natural disaster, everything would be peachy at Kingsmill's River Course.
The question for today is will the river and course meld into one here?
Discussion of Big Bertha among the PGA set usually is in reference to an oversized driver. Thursday, it was a reference to Hurricane Bertha, which is bearing down on the Eastern Seaboard.
``Our main goal is to protect the players and the fans, our secondary goal is to protect the property,'' tournament executive director Johnnie Bender said.
Hoch and Strange both got around the track the first time with hot putters proving to be the key to their best rounds of the year.
Both historically play well here, but neither has finished higher than third. Strange and Hoch are the only two players in this tournament's top 11 all-time money winners who have never won the event.
``I don't remember ever starting off that well here and I don't remember ever having a chance to win here,'' said Hoch, who started on the back and went out in 31. ``I've had some high finishes, but usually I play well in the last day to get in that position.''
If a 64 can be mildly unsatisfying, it was for Hoch. He hit just seven fairways and went directly to the range after his round to work out a problem with his driver - the nature of which he declined to divulge.
There was no problem with his putter. Hoch made eight birdie putts - six of them of between 12 and 30 feet - and also dropped a pair of 12-foot par saves.
``I made everything today,'' Hoch said.
Almost. He missed a 7-foot par putt on his final four after having gone to 8-under the previous hole.
``You knew it was going to end sometime,'' said Hoch, who is the top 1996 money winner in the field at No. 13 on the list.
Kingsmill touring pro Strange said Thursday's swirling winds out of the east were the opposite of what they normally are in this tournament - and more like the way the course plays when he practices here in the spring.
``It wasn't a great ball-striking round, I just made a lot of putts,'' Strange said. ``It's probably my lowest round of the year by a bunch - I don't even want to know by how much.''
Two strokes. Strange shot a 67 at the Nortel Open in mid-January and again at the Colonial in May. Just six of his last 34 rounds prior to Thursday were in the 60s.
Strange made the turn at 1-under and went on a birdie binge on the back. He closed the 65 with a 35-foot birdie at No. 18.
Funk turned his season around last year beginning in Williamsburg. He's hoping it can have a similar effect this year.
Strange would also like to get something going after a subpar first half of the season.
``It's nice to start off with a good round and to have a chance to do well this week,'' Strange said.
Providing Bertha cooperates. ILLUSTRATION: MIKE HEFFNER
THE VIRGINIAN PILOT
Scott Hoch's birdie putt on No. 8, his 17th hole of the day, moved
him to eight under. He closed with a bogey to finish with a 64. He
hit only seven fairways, but on the greens ``I made everything
today,'' he said.
MIKE HEFFNER
THE VIRGINIAN PILOT
Curtis Strange acknowledges the Kingsmill gallery after dropping a
birdie putt on 18. Strange finished with a 6-under-par 65, one shot
back of leader Scott Hoch.
MICHELOB CHAMPIONSHIP
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