DiMarco back on track
Chris DiMarco fired a seven-under-par 65 to finish tied with India’s Arjun Atwal after the opening round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
DiMarco put up a valiant effort against world number one Tiger Woods at the Masters earlier this month only to lose at the first play-off hole.
He has not won since capturing the 2002 Phoenix Open but is ninth on the 2005 money list and has finished in the top 20 in each of the past five years.
The New Yorker, who now lives in Florida, and 32-year-old Atwal lead defending champion Vijay Singh, JJ Henry, Tim Clark and Tom Pernice Jr by two shots.
DiMarco, starting on the back nine here, managed just one birdie over his first six holes.
But a birdie at the 16th ignited a stretch in which he picked up three strokes over four holes.
An eagle at the seventh got him to six under before he capped his scoring with a birdie at the next hole.
“It obviously feels very good to shoot a 65 round on this golf course,” DiMarco said. “It was actually very windy and this course is pretty difficult in the wind. I’m hitting really crisp iron shots.”
Atwal, who lost a play-off at the BellSouth Classic in early April, started on the back nine and had just two birdies prior to the turn.
However, he birdied six of his final nine holes, with only a bogey at the third spoiling the run.
“I didn’t have any expectations,” said Atwal, who has never won on the Tour but has six international victories.
“I started just trying to make pars off the 10th hole because it was so windy. I was putting it pretty well.”
Singh, second on the money list and second to Woods in the world rankings, had one of the wildest rounds of his career with seven birdies, an eagle and four bogeys.
Even through 10 holes, a birdie at the second sparked a stretch of five birdies in seven holes for the 42-year-old Fijian but he gave back a stroke with a bogey on his final hole.
“I thought I played pretty good,” Singh said. “I had a lot of long putts that I couldn’t judge. I three-putted four times.”
Henry got off to a quick start with back-to-back birdies and moved to five under for the day with a birdie at the 18th.
The 30-year-old has a pair of second-place finishes during his five years on the PGA Tour.
Pernice had a bogey-free round and got hot late, recording four birdies over his final seven holes.
Clark, who had a bogey-free round, has never won a PGA event.
The 29-year-old, who was born in South Africa, was second at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in late January.
