SAN MARTIN, Calif. — Rocco Mediate once flirted with a major victory over Tiger Woods. Now he’s happy being in contention no matter what day of the week.
“It was fun playing with a lead,” Mediate said after he made a hole-in-one on the par-3 third hole and shot a bogey-free 7-under-par 64 on Thursday to take the first- round lead in the Open. “You can wait your whole life for this feeling.”
Paul Goydos, Bo Van Felt and Ryuji Imada opened with 65s, and John Mallinger, Michael Letzig, Shaun Micheel and Will MacKenzie had 66s. U.S. Ryder Cup player Rickie Fowler shot a 69.
Mediate, 46, used a 6-iron on the 190-yard third hole for the hole-in-one, his second of the year. He also had an ace in the third round of the John Deere Classic in July.
“It’s just cool,” Mediate said. “It looked like it barely fell in.”
Mediate lost a 19-hole playoff to Woods at the 2008 U.S. Open and has not finished higher than ninth since then.
“It’s all about putting,” Mediate said. “It has just been destroying me. I reach the fairway and hit the green but I three-putt three to five times a day and you’re not going to beat anybody doing that.”
He knew what he needed to do to correct the situation but it seemed to fail him until the past few weeks.
“No matter what I did, I could not make any putts,” Mediate said. “My attitude was horrible. I kept thinking I would hit the green but miss the putt. That’s not the way to think.”
Lincicome’s 61 snares lead
DANVILLE, Calif. — Brittany Lincicome shot an 11-under 61, recording the tour’s best round of the season on the first day of the CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge.
Lincicome had 11 birdies at the 6,185-yard Blackhawk Country Club, posting the second-lowest under-par score in tour history. The 61 also was a career best for Lincicome.
“The only time I looked at the scorecard was when we made the turn,” Lincicome said. “I was making everything. It was pretty crazy. . . . Just one of those days where everything was going my way and I couldn’t do anything wrong.”
Wendy Ward was four shots back after a bogey-free 65. Moira Dunn had a 66 and Jin Young Pak, Michele Redman, Amy Hung and Katherine Hull each shot a 67.
Trio shares lead in Portugal
VILAMOURA, Portugal — Robert Karlsson, Johan Edfors and Maarten Lafeber lead the Portugal Masters after shooting 64s in the first round.
The Associated Press
