Thu Aug 16 23:12:33 2007

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MacKenzie leads Wyndham Championship

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Greensboro, NC (Sports Network) - Will MacKenzie fired an eight-under-par 64 on Thursday to take the first-round lead of the Wyndham Championship at Forest Oaks Country Club.

Lucas Glover rode the momentum of being named one of Jack Nicklaus' U.S. Presidents Cup captain's picks on Monday. He shot a seven-under 65 and is tied for second place with Steve Marino, Brian Davis and Jeff Overton.

Much like last week at the PGA Championship, temperatures soared into triple digits. What was different from Southern Hills was that 121 players in the 156-man field broke par in the first round.

The conditions and play are not the only thing heating up at Forest Oaks. The race for the FedEx Cup title is the dominant theme this week.

This is the final "regular-season" event this year on the PGA Tour. Next week, the FedEx Cup playoffs begin with the top 144 on the list getting into the field at the Barclays.

MacKenzie is 82nd in FedEx Cup standings to start the week. Since the fields get cut down throughout the playoffs with the top 120 in points in the field in two weeks, then top 70, culminating in the top 30 at the Tour Championship, a big finish from MacKenzie this week could all but guarantee him a spot for at least three weeks in the playoffs.

"It helps the people that have played well throughout the whole year," said MacKenzie. "I'm a little bit on the outside looking in right now so I need to play well to keep playing as long as possible in the playoffs."

MacKenzie did not get off to an ideal start on Thursday. He hit a good drive at one, but hit a horrible second shot, then did not play a good chip. All totaled, MacKenzie walked off with a bogey at the first.

Things appeared to stay as equally bad on the second. He played another poor drive and hit an indifferent second, but wedged his third close. MacKenzie tapped in for birdie and that quickly turned his round.

"That was five shots and I was already a little stewing," admitted MacKenzie, who won last year in Reno. "I hit wedge in there really close. I think that sort of just turned my day around."

It certainly did.

MacKenzie birdied the fifth, then nearly holed his tee ball at eight. He settled for birdie, then rattled off three more birdies in a row. MacKenzie birdied the par-five 13th and tallied back-to-back birdies from the 15th to reach minus-eight.

"I rolled it really nice, drove it okay and I'm just playing solid golf but I made some putts," said MacKenzie. "I finished with solid birdies at the end of the front 9. That was nice. Then I played great on the back."

Glover started on the back nine and birdied three in a row from the 11th, his second, then added birdies at 15 and 18. He continued his strong run with a pair of birdies at one and two, but parred out for his share of second place.

So how much did it help his confidence to have Nicklaus call him on Monday with the good news?

"A lot. Mentally I guess, but physically you have to prove it to yourself again," said Glover. "I did that early. I just didn't execute down the stretch, but it was a good day."

Marino rolled in a 12-footer to eagle the par-five second hole. He added birdies at five and nine, but bogeyed the par-three eighth to make the turn at three-under.

He collected four birdies in a five-hole span from the 13th to shoot his 65.

Davis recorded six birdies through his first 16 holes, then hit what appeared to be a horrible tee shot at the par-three 17th. The Englishman chipped in for birdie and a share of second.

Overton had the best chance to join MacKenzie atop the leaderboard. He left himself with a four-foot birdie putt at the last, but missed to stay in second place.

Shigeki Maruyama, John Merrick, John Huston, Carl Pettersson, Todd Fischer, Greg Kraft and 2004 British Open champion Todd Hamilton share sixth place at minus-six.