Troy Matteson swooped with a pair of eagles Thursday to seize the first-round lead in the 4.6 million-dollar Children's Miracle Network Classic.
Matteson posted a nine-under-par 63 to take a one-stroke lead over Kevin Streelman, Scott Verplank and James Walker on Thursday at the US PGA Tour's final tournament of 2008.
Birdies abounded at the Walt Disney World complex, where the round was played on the Magnolia and Palm courses.
Of 128 players in the field, 94 were under par.
Those in red numbers included Erik Compton, playing his first tournament since receiving his second heart transplant on May 20.
Compton drained a 20-foot birdie to complete a two-under 70.
A roller-coaster day of four birdies, four bogeys and an eagle left Compton tied for 61st.
"I think it all balanced out," Compton said after his morning round on the Palm course. "Sometimes you can hit it perfect and make zero putts. Today had a little bit of scrambling on my part."
Compton received a sponsor's exemption to the tournament, his first on the PGA Tour since the 2005 Doral. He is using the event as something of a tuneup for the second phase of tour qualifying next week.
He advanced through the first stage of qualifying two weeks ago at Key Biscayne.
"I was more nervous at (Key Biscayne) than I was here," Compton said. "I'm kind of disappointed with the way I scored today."
Matteson had six birdies to go with eagles at the par-five first and 14th holes on the Palm course.
Matteson is in search of his first victory of 2008, and the second of his career. His prior victory was at the 2006 at the Frys.com Open.
Streelman, playing the Magnolia course, reeled off six birdies in a row from the eighth to overcome his only bogey of the day at the fifth.
He finished at eight-under 64 alongside Verplank and Walker.
Verplank nabbed all eight of the birdies in his bogey-free round in an 11-hole stretch. Walker also had eight birdies with no bogeys.
Former PGA champion Rich Beem also had a bogey-free round and headed a group of five players on 65.
Robert Gamez, who had an eagle at the 10th, fell back into that bunch after a bogey at 18.
Defending champion Stephen Ames of Canada, in search of his first win of 2008, was tied for 28th after a first-round 68.
Ames had four birdies without a bogey and was in a logjam with 21 other players.
The Trinidad-born Ames has had a strong season, with seven top-10 finishes and more than two million dollars in earnings for the third year in a row.
Copyright 2008  AFP American Edition
