Wiebe leads Cap Cana Championship by two
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – The inaugural Cap Cana Championship kicked off on Friday with Mark Wiebe firing a competitive course-record 5-under-par 67 to take a two-stroke lead over Argentina’s Vicente Fernandez and South Africa’s Fulton Allem after the first round of the $2,000,000Champions Tour event, the first professional golf event ever held in the Dominican Republic.
Wiebe posted six birdies on the day – including four on the back nine. He started his round by holing a bunker shot from 15 feet for birdie on the par-4 first hole and then chipped in from 20 feet for birdie on the difficult par-3 13th hole, Wiebe also made one of just four birdies on the par-4 18th after hitting a 3-iron second shot to within three feet of the flag. It was the perfect ending for the former two-time winner on the PGA Tour, his best round since posting 7-under 65 on the first day of the season-opening MasterCard Championship.
“The wind was making the course play really hard and today’s round was one of my best, even going back to when I played on the PGA Tour,” said Wiebe, referring to the winds which blew at a constant 25 mph with higher gusts throughout the day. “My strength today was missing in the right spots. Mentally, I’m tired, but I’m happy to get in with my score.”
The windy conditions at the Jack Nicklaus designed-Punta Espada course at Cap Cana, one of the premier new golf destinations in the world, led to the highest opening-round scoring average of the season (74.688).
“There was no letup out there but you had to stay focused,” said Wiebe. “It’s nice to get off to a good start but we have two more days to go and the wind is supposed to be about the same as it was today.”
Wiebe won last year in his Champions Tour debut at the SAS Championship in Raleigh, N.C. His best finish in seven starts thus far in 2008 is a T13 at the MasterCard Championship in Hawaii.
Allem and Ferrnandez opened with 3-under 69s and are Wiebe’s closest pursuers. Allem, a 50-year-old winner of three PGA Tour titles, carded the only eagle of the day at the par-5 sixth hole, after hitting a 2-iron second shot to within eight feet of the pin.
“The eagle was definitely the highlight of the day,” said Allem. “Overall, I hit a few bad shots, but I was able to make that eagle and five birdies which really helped.”
First-Round News & Notes: Joey Sindelar and Greg Hickman both made their Champions Tour debuts Friday and carded three-over-par 75s…Bernhard Langer, last week’s winner at the Ginn Championship at Hammock Beach, opened this week’s event with a two-over 74, his highest round on the Champions Tour since posting a 76 on Friday at last year’s AT&T Championship in San Antonio…In the first seven official events of the year on the Champions Tour, no first-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win…There were no bogey-free rounds on Friday and only 13 players posted sub-par rounds … Jerry Pate withdrew prior to the start of the first round with a shoulder injury.
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