First-round notebook – Travelers Championship
* Paul Goydos and Charles Warren both turned in bogey-free rounds of 7-under 63 to take the first-round lead after the morning wave.* Charles Warren, a current resident of Greenville, S.C. and a college teammate at Clemson with U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover, has held the first-round lead twice in his Tour career. In 2008 he finished third at the FBR Open after holding the first-round lead and in 2003 he finished T3 in Greensboro after holding the first-round lead.
* If the score holds up it will be the fifth first-round lead of Goydos’ career. Only once has he turned a first-round lead into victory (1996 Bay Hill Invitational). Earlier this year, Goydos held the first-round lead at the Valero Texas Open, but finished T3.
* Ricky Barnes shot a bogey-free 5-under 65 in the first-round to follow up his solid play from last week at the U.S. Open. Barnes recorded his first top-10 finish last week at the U.S. Open (T2). He has four top-25 finishes on the PGA Tour, two of which came as an amateur in 2003 (21st at Masters and T18 at Chrysler Classic of Tucson).
* In his 27th career Tour event, Spencer Levin turned in his best round with a 64. Levin’s previous best round was a 66 at the 2009 Verizon Heritage.
* Greg Chalmers used nine putts and six birdies on his last nine holes (Nos 10-18) to shoot an opening round 6-under 64. Chalmers has never led a Tour event in 219 career starts. His best position after the first-round was a T2 at the 2002 Bell Canadian Open. Chalmers’ best round on Tour was a 63 at the 2003 Buick Invitational.
* After an opening round 4-under 66, Brian Gay is looking to be the first player on Tour with three victories in 2009. Since 1996, only 10 different players have recorded three or more wins in a season including Tiger Woods (10 years), Vijay Singh (4 years), Phil Michelson (4 years), David Duval (3 years), Kenny Perry (2 years), Ernie Els (1 year), Davis Love III (1 year), Mike Weir (1 year), David Toms (1 year) and Mark Brooks (1 years).
* Tag Ridings (64) recorded a hole-in-one on the 155 yard 11th hole in the first-round with a 9 iron. There were no hole-in-ones last year at the Travelers Championship.
* Lucas Glover is the first player to tee it up the week after winning the U.S. Open since 2003 when Jim Furyk won the U.S. Open and then finished T22 at the Buick Classic. Before that, Lee Janzen finished T3 at the Western Open the week after winning the 1998 U.S. Open.
* The last time a player won a PGA Tour event the week after winning a major was Tiger Woods in 2006 (PGA Championship followed by the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational).
* 2006 champion, J.J. Henry (66) holed his second shot of the day for an eagle from 114 yards on the 434-yard par 4 first hole. Bo Van Pelt (66) also eagled the hole to start his round from 129 yards away.
* Hunter Mahan shot a 4-under 66 in the opening round. The 66 is Mahan’s second-best opening round at the Travelers Championship (62 in 2007).
* Mahan, who has finished second, first and second in the last three years at the Travelers Championship, has not missed a cut since the 2008 PGA Championship. Mahan has made the cut in all 15 events in which he has teed it up in 2009, finishing in the top 25 in 13 of them. He has scored in the 60s in 12 of his last 13 rounds at TPC River Highlands.
* Stewart Cink’s attempt to become the second player to repeat as champion got off to a rocky start with a 1-over 71. Phil Mickelson won the event in 2001 and 2002. With a victory this week the 1997 and 2008 winner would join Billy Casper as the only players to win this event three or more times. Casper won in 1963, 1965, 1968 and 1973.
* The last 13 champions at the Travelers Championship have been from the U.S. dating back to Greg Norman in 1995.
* Travelers Championship 2005 champion Brad Faxon is making his 25th appearance at this event, matching Mark Calcavecchia for the most starts in Tournament history.
* Brett Quigley (knee) withdrew prior to the first-round.
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