RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — The PGA Tour Champions officially returned to the Coachella Valley on Friday for the first round of the Galleri Classic, and the desert made a strong impression on the players.
“It’s beautiful. It’s probably as good a conditioned golf course as I’ve seen for a long time,” said Richard Green, one of six golfers tied for third place after an opening-round 5-under 67. “Everything about the place is beautiful. The greens are perfect, fairways, everything’s perfect. It’s beautiful scenery. It’s wonderful. I’m kind of liking it.”
Green was one of many golfers who took advantage of the perfect weather and conditions on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California, to score well in the opening round of the inaugural tournament. But even Green’s 5-under round left him tied chasing first-round leader David Toms.
With a scorching 5-under 31 on the back nine, Toms completed a 7-under 65 to be the first-ever leader of the Galleri Classic. And like most of the golfers in the 78-player field, Toms shot his round on a golf course he had never seen until this week.
“As many years as I’ve played in the desert out here in the Palm Springs area, I’ve never been over here, so it was nice to get over here and see this place,” said Toms, the 2001 PGA Championship winner and a three-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions including earlier this month at the Cologuard Classic in Arizona. “It shapes well off the tee. You really have to hit your tee ball good to have a chance to score well, and I did that today and that was really the key.”
Toms tops a leaderboard that includes past major winners like Padraig Harrington and Vijay Singh, who are both in a six-way tie for third at 5-under with Green, Rob Pampling, Rocco Mediate and Brett Quigley.
That group is one shot behind Kevin Sutherland, who was bogey free in his round for a 66. Some of the bigger names in the field, including Fred Couples (68), Steve Stricker (69) and Bernhard Langer (69), are lurking a few shots back but are still in contention with two rounds to play.
Langer, looking for a record-setting 46th career PGA Tour Champions win, birdied three of his first five holes Friday, but he then put together 13 consecutive pars, using 30 putts in the round while hitting just 10 of 14 fairways.
Toms, 56, started his round slowly with one birdie and one bogey in his first six holes. After that, Toms turned his game…
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