Two Shoot Six -Under To Take PGA Lead

Medinah, IL (Sports Network) - With all of the focus falling on the major threesome of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Geoff Ogilvy, Lucas Glover and Chris Riley both posted rounds of six-under-par 66 Thursday to share the first-round lead of the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club. Woods, the British Open champion, Mickelson, the defending champion and reigning Masters winner and Ogilvy, who collected his first major title at the U.S. Open, all shot rounds of three-under-par 69 on Thursday. "We all understand there`s a long way," said Woods, who won his first of two consecutive PGA Championships the last time this event was staged at Medinah in 1999. "We have to keep plugging along and we all did that today. We missed a couple shots here and there and got up and down." Woods started poorly with an errant drive at the 10th, his first, and made bogey. He got that stroke back with an eight-foot birdie putt at the 12th, then got into red figures for the championship with a 25-footer at 14. At the 15th, Woods hit an iron off the tee into the left rough. He knocked his approach to six feet and canned the birdie try to move to minus-two. The No. 1 player in the game missed a 10-foot eagle try at the par-five seventh, but tapped in for birdie. Woods parred his final two to post a three- under 69. "Overall, I thought I played pretty good today," said Woods, who has won his last two starts - the British Open and Buick Open. "I hit the ball pretty solid all day and I had good speed on the greens." Mickelson, who prevailed in a Monday finish last year, two-putted for birdie from 20 feet at the 10th, then cashed in from five feet at 11 for back-to-back birdies. He made pars all the way around the turn, but found trouble off the tee at the par-three second. Mickelson missed right of the green and could not get up and down for par. Mickelson reached the green in two at the par-five fifth and two-putted for a birdie from 20 feet. He joined the logjam at three-under at the par-five seventh, then nearly holed a 40-footer for birdie at the last, but his ball popped out of the hole. "I felt like I was playing a lot better than I showed today," said Mickelson, who went with two drivers on Thursday like he did at the Masters. "It was very close." Ogilvy was certainly no slouch on Thursday, as he overcame a double-bogey and two bogeys with seven birdies. "I`m not just going to roll over," said Ogilvy, who also won this year`s WGC- Accenture Match Play Championship. "It was good fun." Billy Andrade, who got into the field as an alternate when 1995 champion Steve Elkington withdrew, carded a five-under-par 67 and is alone in third place. Stewart Cink and J.J. Henry, both vying for automatic spots on the United States Ryder Cup team, which will be finalized after the final round, did nothing to hurt their chances in round one. They opened with four-under-par 68s and are tied for fourth place with Henrik Stenson, Robert Allenby, Luke Donald and Davis Love III. Love, the 1997 PGA Champion, was on fire with a 30 on the front nine and reached seven-under par. A wayward six-iron tee ball at the par-three 17th led to trouble. He whiffed on his second and ended up with a triple-bogey six. "I was in one of those bad lies," said Love, referring to his second at 17. "I was trying to get a little too cute with it. I didn`t have a whole lot of options." All of this spectacular talent is looking up at Glover and Riley. Glover parred his first hole, then drained a 30-footer for birdie at the second. Glover made it two in a row with a 12-foot putt at the third, then collected another birdie at the fifth when his 18-footer found the bottom of the cup. Glover`s drive at six found the right rough and his second landed in the tall grass on the left side. He bogeyed the hole, but parred the last three to go out in two-under 34. He flew out of the gate on the back nine with a two-putt birdie at 10 and short birdie putt at the 11th. Glover hit another poor tee shot at 12 and made bogey, but his play late in the round vaulted him into the lead. At the 15th, Glover rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt to reach four-under par. He tallied his second birdie in a row at the 16th, then closed with a four- foot birdie putt at the last for his 66. "It was just a good opener," said Glover. "I was real solid, a couple of bad tee shots led to two bogeys, but made all of my short ones and made a couple of long ones for birdie." Aside from the possibility of grabbing his first major title, Glover has something else on his mind this week. He stands 14th on the U.S. Ryder Cup points list and it`s definitely on his mind this week. "Every day, every minute, every second for the last six months," said Glover in response to how often he thinks about making the Ryder Cup team. "I had decided to put that behind me this week and try to just play golf and not worry about it." Riley chipped in for birdie on his first hole, the 10th, then bogeyed the par- three 13th when he could not save par from the left rough. He ran off three birdies in a four-hole span from the 14th to make the turn at minus-three. Riley parred his next four holes, but holed a six-foot birdie putt at the fifth. He two-putted from 20 feet for a birdie at the seventh and tapped in a short birdie putt at eight to join Glover in the lead. "I played pretty good," said Riley. "I thought there was going to be a better round than six-under because there`s a lot of birdies out there. The greens are pretty soft and I`m happy to be where I`m at." This year`s major championship winners were joined in a tie for 10th by Fred Funk, Lee Westwood, Tim Herron, Harrison Frazar, Jonathan Byrd, 2003 PGA Champion Shaun Micheel, Sergio Garcia, who finished as the runner-up to Woods at Medinah in `99, and Billy Mayfair, who is two weeks removed from surgery for testicular cancer. (Copyright 2005 by The Sports Network)