A little extra time off this winter left David Toms and Camilo Villegas feeling fresh for the Humana Challenge in La Quinta, Calif.
Toms and Villegas shot 9-under-par 63s to top a leaderboard dotted with impressive scores in the opening round Thursday.
Ted Potter Jr., Sang-moon Bae, Brandt Snedeker and Bob Estes were one stroke behind in postcard-perfect weather on the pro-am tournament’s three generous Palm Springs-area courses.
Villegas and Toms both played bogey-free at the former Bob Hope Desert Classic, which has dropped one day of its traditional five-round format this year.
After playing on the winning U.S. team in the Presidents Cup, Toms passed on a hard-to-get spot in the lucrative Chevron World Challenge in December to spend extra time with his family. He shook off an unimpressive start to the new season in Hawaii with excellent play alongside Presidents Cup teammate Phil Mickelson at La Quinta Country Club, which features the event’s toughest course.
Toms also got a boost playing alongside Mickelson, who struggled to a 74. Toms made a 30-foot birdie putt on the sixth hole right after Mickelson holed an eagle putt, ratcheting up the energy in an often staid tournament.
“That’s probably the biggest crowd I’ve ever had playing golf here,” Toms said. “It was nice to play a good round and have people energized and out there cheering for your birdies.”
Villegas recovered from his disappointing 2011 with an extended break in his native Colombia and in Florida. In his tournament debut, he made nine birdies in his first crack at the Nicklaus Private course, coasting through a round he could barely recall after he finished it.
“You feel that you’re a little rusty, but at the same time, you’re mentally fresh,” said Villegas, a three-time PGA Tour winner. “It’s a funny game. Sometimes being mentally fresh is more important.”
Enthusiastic crowds also showed up in the Coachella Valley to cheer on an improved field that included Mickelson, defending champion Jhonattan Vegas and world No. 8 Dustin Johnson.
“Nothing really worked,” said Greg Norman, who shot an even-par 72 in his first Palm Springs appearance since 1986 and his first PGA Tour start since 2009. “It was just pure rust, that’s all it was. Just rusty, rusty, rusty.”
Potter made five consecutive birdies after the turn in his round, while the 45-year-old Estes, who hasn’t won since 2002, finished with consecutive birdies to move into a third-place tie.
Another change to the tournament was an immediate hit with the pros: Instead of playing with three amateur partners in each of the first four rounds, two pros are teaming with two players, which makes for more fun.
“I’ve looked at the pairings, and I can tell that a lot of guys are playing with their friends and other golfers, the guys that are close,” said Toms, who counts Mickelson as a close friend.
CHIP SHOTS
Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts shot a course-record 9-under 64 to take the first-round lead in the Volvo Golf Champions at The Links at Fancourt in George, South Africa. South Africa’s Branden Grace and Thomas Aiken and England’s Tom Lewis were second at 68. … Brazil’s Adilson Da Silva and South African pair Grant Veenstra and Andrew Georgiou will play in this year’s British Open after finishing in the top three of a 36-hole international qualifier in Johannesburg. Veenstra won the two-day event with a 6-under 138; Georgiou and Da Silva were another shot back in the 41-man field.
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