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Duval shares lead at Tour Championship, Tiger two back
By RON SIRAK / AP Golf Writer
HOUSTON (AP) -- David Duval, second seven times before finally winning earlier this month, shot a 5-under-par 66 Thursday to tie Jesper Parnevik and Jim Furyk for the first-round lead in the Tour Championship as he tried to win his third consecutive start.
Duval eagled the 509-yard ninth hole, Parnevik had two-putt birdies on all three par-5s, and Furyk rolled in seven birdie putts as the trio finished the day one stroke ahead of Brad Faxon.
"I was surprised to see the scores so low," Faxon said, attributing the fact that 20 of the 30 players in the field broke par to warmer weather and lack of wind.
"The course played shorter today," he said. "But they have a lot left in this course. The scores are not going to get better every day."
Five others, including PGA champion Davis Love III, were two strokes back with 68s as the top 30 players on the PGA Tour money list chased the $720,000 first prize.
"I wish I knew there was a secret formula," Duval said about his recent run of success. "And if there was and I knew it, I wouldn't tell. There is not a lot of difference between first and second."
In this particular tournament -- the richest in the world with a $4 million purse -- the difference between first and second is $288,000.
That amount alone would have finished 85th on the money list this year and the $720,000 first prize would have led the tour in winnings for an entire year every year until 1987.
Tiger Woods, the leading money winner on tour, shot a 69 while the only two players who have a chance of catching him for the money title, Justin Leonard and Love, shot 70 and 68 respectively.
Andrew Magee, who made it into the field by a mere $5 over Billy Andrade, shot a 69 as he tried to more than double the $665,607 he earned in 28 previous events this year.
"Billy called me this morning," Faxon said about Andrade, a close friend. "He's mad. He's still mad."
Duval, on the other hand, is now having every bounce go his way, as he showed on the first hole when he drove into the trees only to have his ball end up in the fairway.
"I got a heck of a break on No. 1," he said. "Somehow it kicked into the fairway and I made par."
That started Duval on a round in which he made five birdies, an eagle and two bogeys.
"I don't know if you can ever know if you have your game," Duval said. "The best way is to just go play."
Duval won the Michelob Championship and the Disney Classic, both in playoffs, then skipped last week's tournament in Las Vegas.
Nick Price, the last to win in three consecutive starts on the PGA Tour when he took Hartford, the Western Open and the St. Jude Classic in 1993, shot a 70.
Parnevik, who said the course played "probably three clubs shorter today" than it did in practice rounds played in cold, blustery conditions, said he was playing poorly coming to the Champions Golf Club but found a swing that worked on the range.
"I went from a Norman-like swing to a Trevino-like swing to something different today," the Swede who plays with the bill of his hat turned up said with an impish grin. "Today worked better than I hoped for."
Divots: Jeff Maggert, who has a touch of the flu, shot a 42 on the back nine and a 78 but remained in the field. ... Mark O'Meara played five holes 5-under-par beginning on No. 5 but shot a 37 on the back nine to finish with a 68. ... Much of the afternoon round was played in intermittent rain. ... Defending champion Tom Lehman had a 72.
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