Australian Geoff Ogilvy is three shots off the pace after the first round at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Ogilvy carded a five-under-par 66 to be in a share of eighth position with a quartet of Americans – Jerry Kelly, Troy Matteson, Sean O&aposHair and Jason Dufner. Their compatriots Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk led after the first day after both posted impressive eight-under-par opening rounds. The American pair carded 63s to sit two shots clear of a group of five players. Starting on the 10th, world No.4 Stricker birdied his first two holes – completing his opening nine in 31, four under. He then birdied holes 1, 2, 3 and 4. That feat was replicated by Furyk, who was five under after six holes and picked up two more shots on the 17th and 18th. After completing his round, Stricker told www.pgatour.com: “I started the day well with a birdie, made a good birdie putt at 10 and then hit it to about four feet at 11.” “A couple of good holes to start with, and to get off to a birdie-birdie start, just kind of got the day started in the right direction.” “I played well pretty much all day, one little hiccup on No.7 where I laid up in the rough, but other than that it was pretty solid off the tee, hit a lot of fairways, gave myself a lot of opportunities.” “The middle of the round was good. I think there was a stretch of five birdies in a row there from 18 to No.4. So that was a good stretch. Made a good save, like I said, at 7, but it was overall a good day.” Three more Americans – Scott Verplank, Justin Leonard and Matt Kuchar – as well as Masters champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina and South Africa&aposs Retief Goosen headed the chasing pack after all hit six-under-par rounds of 65. The highlight of Verplank&aposs round was an eagle on the par-five second, while Leonard achieved a similar feat on the par-four fourth. Ireland&aposs Padraig Harrington, who would be happy just to make the cut after missing out in his last two visits to Norton, was four under – alongside, among others, Vijay Singh, Sweden&aposs Daniel Chopra and England&aposs Brian Davis. Jason Day and Nathan Green were the next-best Australian on three-under while John Senden was a shot further back on two-under. Marc Leishman was level with Tiger Woods, Spain&aposs Sergio Garcia and Colombian Camilo Villegas on one-under. Meanwhile, South African Thomas Aiken leads the European Masters by one stroke at the midway point. He finds himself on 10-under, ahead of Bradley Dredge and Miguel Angel Jimenez on nine-under par. Australian first-round leader Brett Rumford followed up his dazzling opening 62 with only a 73 to slip to seven-under and Simon Dyson&aposs 71 was eight shots worse than his previous day – ensuring plenty of change at the top. Aiken, joint eighth in The Open in July and six times a winner in his home country, fired a 64 with an eagle and six birdies to take over the lead in the race for a first prize of more than 292,000 pounds ($AU 563,000). The Deutsche Bank Championships Round 1 -8: Steve Stricker 63, Jim Furyk 63 -6: Scott Verplank 65, Angel Cabrera 65, Justin Leonard 65, Matt Kuchar 65, Reteif Goosen 65 -5: Jerry Kelly 66, Troy Matteson 66, Sean O Hair 66, Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 66, Jason Dufner 66 -4: Stephen Ames 67, Greg Chalmers (Australia) 67, Scott Piercy 67, David Toms 67, Padraig Harrington 67, Bryce Molder 67, Woody Austin 67, Daniel Chopra 67, Brian Davis 67, Jonathan Byrd 67, Vijay Singh 67 Also: -3: Jason Day /b> (Australia) 68, Nathan Green (Australia) 68 -2: John Senden (Australia) 69 -1: Marc Leishman (Australia) 70 E: Matthew Goggin (Australia) 71 +1: Rod Pampling (Australia) 72 +2: Nick O Hern (Australia) 73 +4: James Nitties (Australia) 75 +5: Robert Allenby (Australia) 76 The European Masters Round 2 -10: Thomas Aiken 68 64 -9: Bradley Dredge 68 65, Miguel Angel Jimenez 65 68 -8: Simon Dyson 63 71, Paul McGinley 66 68, Ross McGowan 67 67, Angelo Que 69 65 -7: Johan Edfors 66 69, Christian Nilsson 65 70, Chapchai Nirat 68 67, Alexander Noren 65 70, Andrew Romero 65 70, Brett Rumford (Australia) 62 73, Charl Schwartzel 67 68, Graeme Storm 69 66 -6: Felipe Aguilar 70 66, Benn Barham 70 66, Julien Clement 69 67, Thongchai Jaidee 65 71, Pablo Martin 70 66, Danny Willett 65 71 Also: -4: Danny Lee (New Zealand) 71 67 -3: Peter O Malley (Australia) 68 71 -2: Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 69 71 -1: David Gleeson (Australia) 71 70, Scott Strange (Australia) 70 71 E: Mark Brown (New Zealand) 72 70, Marcus Fraser (Australia) 66 76, Scott Hend (Australia) 70 72 +1: Adam Blyth (Australia) 72 71, Kane Webber (Australia) 73 70 +3: Darren Beck (Australia) 74 71 +4: Mitchell Brown (Australia) 76 70 +7: Terry Pilkadaris (Australia) 75 74 +9: Rick Kulacz (Australia) 70 81 +12: Scott Arnold (Australia) 76 78
Author: PA Sport and Sportal