Colonial Golf Tournament : O’Meara Overcomes Jet Lag for 66 and Share of Lead

Mark O’Meara, still recovering from jet lag after a victory in Japan last weekend, took advantage of near-ideal conditions Thursday for a four-under-par 66 that placed him in a four-way tie for the first-round lead of the $500,000 Colonial National Invitation golf tournament.

“I wasn’t expecting to be playing at my top performance. It takes a few days to get over the jet lag,” said O’Meara, who returned to this country Monday after winning the Fuji Sankei tournament near Tokyo.

“I didn’t do anything really well, but I was decent in every area,” said O’Meara, a two-time winner on the American tour this season.

He shared the top spot with Jim Thorpe and a pair of second-year players, Corey Pavin and Willie Wood.

“It was a perfect day to play, just enough wind to keep you cool. And the golf course was in mint condition,” Thorpe said. “That’s why you’re seeing so many good scores.”

Defending champion Peter Jacobsen, who also played without a bogey in the warm, muggy weather, finished with a 67 along with four others.

Also one stroke back were Chip Beck, Pat McGowan, Mike Smith and David Graham, a former U.S. Open and PGA champion.

Chi Chi Rodriguez led a large group at 68.

While the scoring was exceptionally low on the 7,116-yard course, it did not extend to some of the game’s more celebrated names.

Tom Watson, for example, made four consecutive bogeys on the way to a 74. Bob Eastwood, a winner last week in the Byron Nelson tournament, also was four over par for his day’s work.

Leading money-winner Curtis Strange and Tom Kite were at 72. U.S. Open champion Fuzzy Zoeller and Lanny Wadkins, a two-time winner earlier this year, were at 73. PGA champion Lee Trevino had it three under par at one stage but finished at 70.

And slump-ridden Ben Crenshaw, a former Colonial champion, did not make a birdie, played the back nine in 41 and finished with a 79.

O’Meara, who scored consecutive victories in the Bing Crosby National Pro-Amateur and the Hawaiian Open earlier this season, got away to a birdie-birdie start and preserved his round with a couple of scrambling pars from bunkers on the back nine.

Thorpe, with his left wrist heavily taped, also used a birdie-birdie start as the key to his round.

“I have tendinitis in my wrist that’s been bothering me a lot lately. I’ve had to withdraw from four or five tournaments this year. I guess I was like a racehorse today, though. Just bandage ‘em up so they can run.”

Wood’s erratic effort, which included four bogeys and only six pars, was built around 10 one-putt greens.

Pavin called his bogey-free effort “one of the best rounds I’ve played in a long time, probably my best ever at Colonial.”

He credited it to a recent break from competition. “I was getting a little stale. I wasn’t as intense as I should be. I needed to get back to where I was very involved in my round,” he said.