Golf: Classic leader thankful for early tee-off time in heat

Taking advantage of an early tee time on a windswept course, Dan Forsman shot a seven-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead in the Compaq Classic in New Orleans yesterday.

"We started first, there was no doubt that was a definite advantage because there was still some moisture on the ground," Forsman said.

"I think the big difference this afternoon is that [the greens] are so hard and baked that it's treacherous around the hole."

American compatriot Rich Beem opened with a 67. Stewart Cink and Dudley Hart topped a group at 68 and defending champion David Toms shot a 69.

Grant Waite was the best of the New Zealanders with a three-under 69 to share 11th place, followed by Frank Nobilo on 71, Michael Long (73), Craig Perks (76) and Phil Tataurangi (77).

Perks, who won The Players Championship last month, hit three balls into the water on the par-five 15th island hole, then sank a long putt for a quadruple bogey nine.

Forsman, who won the last of his four US PGA Tour titles in 1992, backed off three times because of the wind before sinking a metre-long birdie putt on the 18th, worried that the wind would steer it off course.

Forsman's putting gave him the lead.

"I haven't had a 24-putt round in quite some time. But I've been working hard on my putting," he said.

The wind gusted over 43 km/h throughout the day.

Cink made the strongest run of the players teeing off late in the day.

He followed up two birdies on the front nine with birdies on four of the first six holes on the back nine before finishing with bogeys on 17 and 18 for a 68.

* Colin Montgomerie went on a late birdie blitz to grab a share of the lead after the first round of the US$1.81 million ($4.11 million) French Open in Guyancourt yesterday.

The 38-year-old Scot, who won the tournament when it was last played in Guyancourt, in 2000, hit a five-under-par 67 for a three-way tie at the top of the leaderboard with Sweden's Marten Olander and Frenchman Jean-Francois Remesy.

Olander was the early leader, equalling a European Tour record of eight successive birdies on the way to his 67. Remesy hit seven birdies in a round marred by a double bogey on the 15th.

But it was Montgomerie who made the most of the more passive conditions in the afternoon, picking up birdies on the third, fourth, 13th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes. Only the missed green and a bogey at the ninth marred his day.

- AGENCIES