Date: September 01, 2007
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Elkington up with leaders

Colombia&aposs Camilo Villegas has claimed the first round lead at the Deutsche Bank Championship with an eight-under-par 63 that puts him three strokes ahead of the nearest Australian in Steve Elkington. Villegas had a bogey-free round with eight birdies to sit two strokes clear of both Canadian Mike Weir and Ryan Moore, who both shot six-under 65. “I had a great day today, obviously. Putted great, eight birdies, no bogeys, kept the ball in play and rolled some beautiful putts,” Villegas said. “I was happy with my round. It&aposs very early in the week, and it&aposs time to keep it going.” Villegas had four birdies on each side. He birdied four of his first seven holes to get off to a good start and closed his round with consecutive birdies. The mistake-free round for Villegas extended a stretch of five straight events in which the 25-year-old has started with a round in the 60s. “I felt very good, and the last month I&aposve been hitting the ball awesome,” Villegas said. “I just needed to get a putt down here and there, and I did today, and it paid off. A great round today.” Weir birdied his first two holes and added two more on the front nine. Another birdie at number 10 was followed by his only bogey of the day. Weir added birdies at numbers 15 and 16 to grab a share of second. Moore started on the back nine and had two birdies and an eagle at the par-five 18th. He added three birdies on his first five holes of his final nine and had his only bogey of the day at number eight. Elkingon, meanwhile, looked a little rusty as he teed off on the Friday morning, bogeyeing the first hole before recovering to post six birdies during the remainder of his five-under 66 round. Just behind Elkington at four-under is John Senden and Aaron Baddeley, who both posted four-under 67s on the first day at the Boston course. While Elkington was a scratchy starter, Senden jumped out of the blocks with two birdies in the first two holes before claiming another three birdies and a bogey on his card for the first day. Baddeley, though, had a classic up and down round in many ways. By the seventh hole he had posted three birdies but he then blew that advantage by posting a hat-trick of bogeys between eight and 10. However, despite being on even par with eight holes remaining, Baddeley birdied four of those to be among the leading contingent after day one. A further stroke back on three-under is Adam Scott, who carded a 68, while Robert Allenby and Stuart Appleby both posted two-under 69s. It wasn&apost such a good day for Nick OHern, though, with the Australian posting a seven-over 78 on day one to be almost certain of missing the cut and therefore losing his place in the overall FedEx Cup tournament, which is a four tournament knock-out competition. First Round of the The Deutsche Bank Championship, (Par 71): -8 Camilo Villegas 63 -6 Mike Weir 65, Ryan Moore 65 -5 Heath Slocum 66, Brett Wetterich 66, Fredrik Jacobson 66, Steve Elkington (Australia) 66, Henrik Stenson 66 -4 John Senden (Australia) 67, Trevor Immelman 67, Steve Stricker 67, Charlie Wi 67, Sergio Garcia 67, Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 67, Craig Kanada 67 also: -3 Adam Scott (Australia) 68 -2 Robert Allenby (Australia) 69, Stuart Appleby (Australia) 69 -1 Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 70 E Stephen Leaney (Australia) 71 1 Peter Lonard (Australia) 72, Nathan Green (Australia) 72 3 Rod Pampling (Australia) 74 7 Nick O&aposHern (Australia) 78