Rich Barcelo
Rich Barcelo fired a 6-under 65 Thursday morning and grabbed the first-round lead at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open, the first domestic stop on the 2011 Nationwide Tour schedule. Barcelo closed with a 35-foot birdie putt on his final hole to separate himself by one stroke from a trio of others.
Scott Gardiner, Aaron Watkins and Carl Paulson all posted 5-under 66s at the Le Triomphe Country Club course and share second place.
Bob Heintz, Matthew Giles, Michael Thompson, Fran Quinn and 2003 champion Brett Wetterich are knotted at 67, two strokes back.
Barcelo was one-over through his first seven holes on the back nine, but then turned things while battling a wind that changed the complexion of the course.
"It was playing 180 degrees different today than it did Tuesday in the practice round," said Barcelo, who is making his eighth start in this event dating back to 1999. "I've been here a lot and I've seen all the wind conditions."
Thursday's wind came out of NNE and turned some difficult holes on the back nine from lions to lambs. The 485-yard, 14th usually plays into a headwind and was the second-toughest par-4 on Tour last year, yielding only 16 total birdies over four days. The field chalked up a record 15 birdies there today.
"I hit 3-wood into the green for my second shot there the other day," said Barcelo. "Today, it was a 9-iron."
Barcelo's lead was threatened during much of the afternoon by Paulson, a 40-year-old veteran who has played very little competitive golf over the past five and half years thanks to a series of back problems.
Paulson opened his round with back-to-back birdies before he aced the 199-yard, 3rd hole with a perfect 5-iron. It was his first hole-in-one since the second round of the 1999 Cleveland Open.
Paulson got to 7-under through 15 before suffering two bogeys on his final three holes.
"I think mentally I got a little tired but that will sharpen up," he said.
So will the field as players begin to get their sea legs under them to begin the year. The Tour opened with tournaments in Panama and Colombia, both of which were plagued by weather. The latter, the Pacific Rubiales Bogota Open, was hampered by daily thunderstorms that eventually forced the tournament to be cut to 36 holes.
"It's hard to get any momentum going because you have to go home for a couple of weeks," said Watkins, who posted a second-round 65 to match the course record in South America and was within striking distance when officials were forced to cancel the third round. "It's tough because when I go home I usually sit on the couch for four or five days. I putted good the last round in Colombia, which gave me a little momentum coming into this week."
