CASTLE ROCK, Colo. -- David Toms' game was a mess until a weekend with his instructor got him back on track, helping Toms seize the first-round lead in the Sprint International.
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| Sergio Garcia drew big crowds during his round, which finished with 5 points. |
Toms shrugged off two lightning delays and darkness that nearly obscured his final hole to overtake Davis Love III on Thursday.
Play was suspended twice in the afternoon for more than three hours because of lightning at Castle Pines Golf Club. The first delay, with half of the field still on the course, lasted 2 hours,
35 minutes, and the second delay lasted 30 minutes.
Fifty-one golfers were unable to finish their rounds. They resumed play early Friday, after which the second round began.
Toms, who ranks among the top 50 on the PGA Tour's money list for the third straight season, vaulted to the top of the leaderboard with an eagle and six birdies worth 16 points under the
modified Stableford scoring system used in this event.
"My expectations weren't very high coming in here," Toms said. "I was struggling with every part of my game. I was driving it crooked, I wasn't real sharp with my irons and my putting was awful. I worked with my teacher on Saturday and Sunday, and we got it fixed.
"I felt good over the ball all day. I made some putts and things just seemed to fall into place -- even though we were out there all day.
"We couldn't see the green on the last hole at all. I'm thankful the cup was painted white."
Toms finished nearly eight hours after he started.
Slipping into second place with a pair of eagles on his back nine was two-time International champion Phil Mickelson, at 15 points. Mickelson eagled the par-5 14th hole late Thursday and the par-5 17th early Friday.
Another point behind at 14 were Love and Mark Calcavecchia.
Love birdied six of his first seven holes and held the lead until Toms birdied his next-to-last hole, just minutes before the horn sounded suspending play because of darkness. Calcavecchia
birdied four holes on his back nine.
Love, starting on the back nine, birdied 10, 11 and 12 and, after a par at 13, ran off three more birdies at 14, 15 and 16. He began the run with a 35-foot birdie putt on the difficult 10th hole
and finished it with 1-foot putts on both the 15th and 16th. He added his seventh birdie on the par-5 first hole.
"I got off to a great start, obviously," Love said. "I never really did much after that, but I still hit the ball pretty good."
Steve Elkington and Mark Wiebe had 13 points. Rick Fehr and David Sutherland had 12 points. Defending champion Vijay Singh and
Mark O'Meara were in a group at 11.
The talented field featured eight of the world's top 10 players, including No. 1 Tiger Woods, No. 2 David Duval and No. 3 Love.
Duval had 10 points, and Woods joined Nick Price in a group at 7.
Sergio Garcia, the 19-year-old Spanish sensation who lost by one stroke to Woods in last week's PGA championship, posted 5 points, along with Ryder Cup selection Steve Pate.
Lee Westwood and former champion Jose Maria Olazabal were at 4.
Unlike the early years of this tournament -- when golfers started from zero each day and there were daily cuts -- all scores are cumulative for four rounds. The format, which rewards aggressive
play, awards 8 points for a double eagle, 5 points for eagle, 2 points for birdie, zero for par, minus-1 for bogey and minus-3 for double bogey or worse.
"I didn't play really well," Garcia said. "I was a little tired, but I hit some pretty good shots and I missed a couple of good opportunities for birdie and a couple for eagle. But it's not the worst round you could ask for.
"If I have a good day (Friday), make three or four birdies and a couple of eagles, I can move up a lot of places."
