Date: April 18, 2008
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Lonard opens with a flurry

Peter Lonard has kicked off the Verizon Heritage with a solid three-under-par 68 to trail all-American joint leaders Justin Leonard, Davis Love III and Lucas Glover by two strokes after the first round. Lonard, who started on the back nine, is tied in a share of 14th position after recovering from a bogey at the 12th hole to rattle off birdies at the 13th, 2nd, 5th and 7th holes at Harbour Town Golf Links in South Carolina. Kiwi Tim Wilkinson is also equal 14th after the first day but he had a much more eventful opening round than Lonard with a total of six birdies and three bogeys to his name. Leonard shares the lead with a score of five-under after he signed off for a 66. The former Open champion started off the day in wobbly fashion with a birdie at the 2nd immediately cancelled out by a bogey at the 3rd. However, he registered back-to-back birdies on the 4th and 5th and a further three birdies at the 8th, 16th and 18th. Love finds himself on minus five as well thanks to a faultless display which yielded five birdies while Glover was made to work the hardest out of all three progressive leaders to earn a place atop the leaderboard. Glover fought back from being one-over after four holes to record six birdies and eventually card a first round of 66. A group of 10 golfers including Englishmen Brian Davis and Nick Dougherty is a stroke behind the leaders on four-under in equal fourth position. After Lonard, the next best-placed Aussie is Aaron Baddeley whose 69 has him on two-under in equal 23rd position while Robert Allenby and Matthew Goggin are a shot further back on one-under. Nick O&aposHern and tour rookie Jason Day carded four-over 75s to be well off the pace. First Round Scores from the Verizon Heritage, Hilton Head Island, S.C. -5: Justin Leonard 66, David Love 111 66, Lucas Glover 66 -4: Anthony Kim 67, John Rollins 67, Stewart Cink 67, Tim Herron 67, Camilo Villegas 67, Jay Williamson 67, Brian Davis 67, Mathias Gronberg 67, Nick Dougherty 67, Charles Howell 111 67 -3: Ken Duke 68, D J Trahan 68, Briny Baird 68, Jim Furyk 68, Scott Verplank 68, Michael Allen 68, Peter Lonard (Australia) 68 Also: -2: Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 69 -1: Matthew Goggin (Australia) 70, Robert Allenby (Australia) 70 2: Mark Hensby (Australia) 73, Nick Flanagan (Australia) 73 3: Nathan Green (Australia) 74, Rod Rampling (Australia) 74, Stephen Leaney (Australia) 74, John Senden (Australia) 74, Matt Jones (Australia) 74 4: Nick O Hern (Australia) 75, Jason Day (Australia) 75