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David Toms was perfectly consistent Thursday, carding 31s on both the front and back nines.
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David Toms quickly rebounded from the disappointment of his near-miss.
Toms shot a bogey-free 8-under 62 Thursday to share the first-round lead at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial with Chez Reavie. Toms' best score in more than five years came only four days after he lost a playoff at the Players Championship.
"It was one of those days where the hole just looked big," Toms said. "This round certainly helps me get past what happened last week at the end. I needed to get off to a good start."
After forcing a playoff with K.J. Choi at TPC Sawgrass with a rare birdie at the 18th hole, Toms missed a short par putt at the famed No. 17 island hole in the playoff that would have extended play.
At Hogan's Alley, Toms was tied after one round with Reavie, who bettered his career-best score by two strokes.
It was Toms' best score in 429 rounds -- since a career-best 61 at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January 2006. That was the last of his 12 PGA Tour victories.
The 62s by Toms and Reavie matched the lowest 18-hole scores on the PGA Tour this season, and were the best for an opening round.
Rickie Fowler shot a 63, missing a chance to tie the tournament record after his approach on his final hole, the 407-yard No. 9, hit the green and spun back into the water. He closed with a double-bogey 6 in a round that included an eagle, eight birdies and a three-putt bogey from 6 feet at the par-3 16th.
Fowler made a 20-foot eagle putt on the par-5 first hole and was 8 under over an eight-hole stretch before hitting his tee shot at his final hole left of a bunker into the rough before his penalized approach. And he still had a 29 on the front side.
"It's a sorry way to finish the round, but I hit it really well, putted well," Fowler said. "A 29 with a double (bogey) is not too bad. ... I'm excited to be playing well this week and kind of draw off the good out there today. A 63 to start off with is pretty awesome."
Brendon de Jonge, Stewart Cink, Brian Gay, Nathan Green and Charlie Wi shot 64s, a stroke better than Rod Pampling, Mark Wilson and John Senden. Wi was the only of the top 11 scorers who played in the afternoon, when more wind made conditions tougher.
Toms shot 31s on both nines at Colonial, starting on the back and wrapping up both sides with long birdie putts. His 27-foot putt at No. 18 started a stretch of three consecutive birdies, and he punctuated his round with a 29-foot birdie at the ninth hole.
Though he hit only six of 14 fairways, Toms needed just 24 putts.
"It was one of those days where I saw the lines. I had a lot of putts that barely broke right, barely broke left," he said. "I had a lot of uphill-type putts where you could be aggressive. It's just one of those days where everything seemed to go right."
Exactly what the 44-year-old Toms needed playing close to his Louisiana home at one of his favorite tournaments after last week.
Reavie, the 2008 Canadian Open winner, is making a comeback from reconstructive surgery on his right knee last year, when he matched his career-best round of 64 at the Byron Nelson Championship in May before being diagnosed with a second meniscus tear in his knee.
"It's just great to be out there," Reavie said. "It feels great. It swells up some, but it's not from the golf. It's from the walking. I wake up the next day and feel great. It's much better than it was."
Though he made the cut in six of his first 10 tournaments this season while playing on a major medical exemption, Reavie has finished inside the top 40 only once and needs a big check soon. He needs to make $464,707 over this and his next two tournaments to maintain his full PGA Tour exemption for the rest of this season.
The $6.2 million purse at the Colonial includes $1.116 million for the winner, $669,600 for second place and $421,600 for third.
DIVOTS: Anthony Kim opened with four consecutive birdies and was 5 under through six holes. But he bogeyed three of the last six holes and finished with a 67... Jason Day, who plays out of Colonial, shot a 71. ... Defending Colonial champion Zach Johnson had three bogeys and five birdies in a round of 68.
Ryan MinkBaltimoreRavens.com Staff Writer
