GOLF ROUNDUP : Price Stays on a Hot Streak With a Nearly Flawless 64

Picking up where he left off last week, Nick Price birdied half the holes he played, shot an eight-under-par 64 and established a one-stroke lead Thursday in the first round of the Western Open at Lemont, Ill.

Price, who had a final-round 65 in winning the Greater Hartford Open last weekend, called Thursday’s round one of the best of his career.

He missed one fairway by about a foot, hit all 18 greens in regulation and “hit irons inside of 15 feet 12 or 14 times,” he said. “It doesn’t get any better than it was today.”

It appeared, however, that the score was going to be better. Price was nine under through 15 holes, then lipped out 10-foot birdie putts on Nos. 16 and 17 and three-putted for bogey on 18, missing a three-footer for par.

“But I made enough. I can’t complain about missing one little one,” he said.

Mark Wiebe played without a bogey in shooting a 65.

The Cog Hill course remained wet and soft from rain earlier in the week and players were allowed to lift, clean and place balls in the fairway, a situation that contributed to low scoring.

The biggest factor for Price, however, was the resolution of a putting problem that has bothered him since the U.S. Open.

It involved the use of his old putter after having signed a contract with the club manufacturer that makes the Zebra putter. The controversy began after advertisements were published indicating Price was still using the old putter.

He had to switch to the Zebra, and had trouble finding one that felt comfortable until he borrowed one from Denis Watson, who like Price is a native of Zimbabwe who lives in Orlando, Fla.

The putter is borrowed no more. “It’s mine now,” Price said. “I asked Denis how much a percentage he wants, but he said he’d taken enough clubs from me over the years so there’s no charge.”

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Brian Marchbank of Scotland rolled in a 40-foot putt and two 20-footers as he shot a six-under-par 66 to take the first-round lead in the Irish Open at Kilkenny.