CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Fans looking for
big names to follow at the Wachovia Championship had plenty of
options despite the absence of defending champion Tiger Woods.
While Woods was home recovering
from arthroscopic knee surgery, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh,
Masters champion Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini were all the
course Thursday. So was Adam Scott, the rising Australian who
won last week at the Bryon Nelson Championship.
But it was Scott's playing
partner who shined in the first round. David Toms, who has
virtually disappeared in the past two years, charged to a
5-under 67 to take a one-shot lead at the tournament he won five
years ago.
"I played today with last
week's winner, who is a heck of a player," Toms said.
"I was just trying to keep up with him. I couldn't get
within 30 yards of him off the tee, but I scored pretty
well."
Toms shook off his recent woes of
missed cuts and back pain to record eight birdies, including a
near ace on the 13th hole at Quail Hollow Club, to finish one
shot ahead of Mickelson and Jason Bohn.
Toms, the 2001 PGA Championship
winner, won the inaugural event here in 2003. But Toms hasn't
won anywhere since the 2006 Sony Open, falling off the list of
must-see players for golf fans.
"The frustrating part is not
playing at the same level that I've been accustomed to,"
Toms said. "I think it wears on you mentally more than
anything else."
Getting a break with an early tee
time when the greens were still soft from the 3 inches of rain
that fell Monday, Toms made eight birdies, including a near ace
at the 13th hole.
"I'm just glad to see the
inside of one of these media rooms again," Toms joked
during his news conference. "It's been a while."
A disc problem forced Toms to
withdraw from the Match Play Championship just over two months
ago. He followed that with two missed cuts, an 80 in the final
round of the Masters, and a tie for 61st at the Verizon
Heritage.
It left Toms pondering reducing
his schedule.
"I've always said that I've
been out here long enough that the only time it's really fun for
me is when I have a chance to win and contend in
tournaments," said Toms, who has won 12 times.
"Grinding to make the cut is too much like work. Playing
well, I obviously enjoy that a lot more."
Mickelson lurked one shot back in
a stout field that includes 18 of the world's top 25 golfers,
even with Woods missing his first scheduled event since
undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee.
In his first event since the
Masters, he showed off his new, longer putter in his round of
68. Mickelson hit 12 of 14 fairways, then had only 26 putts.
"It was a good day,"
Mickelson said. "It felt good to see some positive results
from the time I spent the last couple weeks.
Bohn, like Toms and Mickelson,
had an early tee time. He made six birdies in a satisfying round
as he's worked his way back from stress fractures in his ribs
suffered last year at the Memorial.
"It's either Jekyll or Hyde
with me right now," Bohn said.
Zach Johnson and Ben Curtis led a
group of nine golfers two shots back, while Vijay Singh and Rory
Sabbatini were among 11 three off the lead after shooting 70s.
No one was able to make a charge late in the day on Toms as the
course dried out and the greens quickened.
It was another rough day for
Masters champion Trevor Immelman. After missing the cut last
week at the Byron Nelson Championship, Immelman shot 76 and was
buried at the bottom of the leader board.
Toms' confidence soared after a
quick start. He holed a nearly 55-foot putt for birdie on the
12th, the third hole of his round. He hit a 5-iron to about 3
inches on No. 13 for another birdie.
Toms recovered from a bogey on
No. 7, when his ball landed in a sand-filled divot, with
consecutive birdies to close his round.
While he was realistic about his
chances to win, Toms had a smile on his face now that he finally
had something good to talk about.
"First of all, you show up
at an event and you're not fired up to play because you're not
getting the results," Toms said. "Then you go home and
everybody has questions for you. It just never stops."
But Quail Hollow Club brings
reminders of the good days for Toms. There's a picture of him in
the winner's blue jacket holding the 2003 trophy near the first
tee. He's got a reserved parking spot in a prime spot next to
the clubhouse as a past champion.
"I'm not saying I couldn't
win the golf tournament, but I think it's more of a process to
get the confidence back," Toms said. "From '97 through
2006, it was a steady climb to build the confidence. So I think
it's going to be the same way again."
