Golf: Flawless Waite leaves the big names trailing

DULUTH - Grant Waite upstaged the biggest names in golf yesterday by shooting a flawless six-under-par 64 to seize a two-stroke lead in the opening round of the United States PGA Championship.

After missing the cut in his last six PGA Tour events he was in command on the 6513m Atlanta Athletic Club course after vaulting past a galaxy of golfing stars.

"I am very proud and honoured to play this well to lead in a major championship," said Waite, aged 36, whose sole success on the US tour came in 1993 when he won the Kemper Open.

Orlando-based Waite and left-hander Phil Mickelson shared the lead before the American bogeyed the last to finish in a group of nine players tied at four-under 66.

That group included Mickelson, Australia's Stuart Appleby, reigning British Open champion David Duval, of the United States, and British Open runner-up Niclas Fasth, of Sweden, and Americans Brad Faxon, David Toms and Dudley Hart.

Twelve players, among them South Africa's Ernie Els, Englishman Nick Faldo, Paraguay's Carlos Franco and Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, were tied at three-under and 17 players were locked at two-under.

World No 1 and defending champion Tiger Woods recorded two double bogeys in a round of 73 to trail Waite by nine shots, and the other New Zealander in the field, Michael Campbell, had a disappointing two-over 72.

Waite earned his two-shot buffer after a superb second shot over the water at the 18th left him with a 4.5m birdie putt, which he sank to complete his lowest score in 11 appearances in major tournaments.

"I have obviously never been close to a position like this before [in a major] and to play this golf course and get around in 64 leaves me very excited, and I'm very proud of what I've accomplished today," Waite said.

"If you are playing well you can separate yourself, but I just want to enjoy myself.

"It's an adventure and ... I want to enjoy the adventure and look back at the end of the week and say I had a good time."

He started boldly when he birdied the first two holes, the second thanks to an 11m putt, before repeating the dose at the fifth, eighth, 12th and 18th.

The pressure is now on him to either maintain his advantage or stay within sight of the lead.

"This adds another dimension to it, because all of a sudden you're the centre of attention," he said.

"Tiger is still the centre of attention, but what I do is going to be good for me.

"This is something I will have to overcome tomorrow, to get into the same mindset as I had today.

"If it leads to another low score, great. If it doesn't, it doesn't. I'm not putting parameters on this."

Meanwhile, PGA Championship officials were left a little red-faced after Waite was listed as an Australian in the pairings sheets distributed at the course.

"That's an insult to a New Zealander," said Waite, only half-joking.

"That's the bottom of the barrel."

As for Mickelson, he hardly sounds like a golfer who's never won a major. After his round he said winning was not his only goal. He wanted to do it comfortably.

"I'm trying to win by a certain number of shots," said Mickelson.

What number?

"I'm not going to say. Doesn't sound good," said Mickelson, adding that he didn't "want to come down the stretch and have one shot here or there be critical. I want to have a comfort zone".

He said the first three days of this tournament were to get himself into contention for the final round.

"If I start thinking about the results and thinking about what I have done or haven't done in the past, it doesn't allow me to play my best.

"So I try to downplay it as much as possible, although I do need to answer those questions."

Mickelson was questioned about laying up on the final hole instead of going for the green after his tee shot found the left rough.

"I looked at the lie to see if it was a reasonable shot at going at the green. I just didn't think the ball was going to come out well. I felt like I had to lay up."

He hit a sand wedge out of the rough, another sand wedge to within 4.5m and two-putted for the bogey.

"There are going to be a lot of bogeys out here, and it's just part of the 72 holes. So I really don't look at 18 as being that big a deal," he said.

Mickelson has five top-10 finishes in the majors. His best is a second place finish in the 1999 US Open. His best finish at the PGA was third in 1994.

Duval began his bid to capture his second major in spectacular style when he birdied his first three holes.

"I have not felt so good about my golf for a long time. I played well but I could have done better," he said.

But while he got off to the perfect start, his playing partner Woods was going in the other direction, dropping a shot on his first hole.

Before the championship began under grey skies, Woods admitted he was physically tired, and it was showing.

He was three-over after six holes and slipping further from the lead, and although he grabbed three birdies on the homeward nine, a double bogey and a three putt on his final hole left him unhappy.

- AGENCIES