Frost’s Hot Putter Cuts the Fog : Golf: He shoots 66 to share first-round lead of Tour Championship with three others.

It just had to be. The fog was so dense Thursday at the Olympic Club that the only player named after a weather condition is tied for the lead after the first round of the Tour Championship.

David Frost shot a five-under-par 66, a score matched by Bill Glasson, Mark McCumber and Steve Lowery, whose round included a hole in one, as the year’s wealthiest players on the PGA Tour teed off in the year’s richest tour event.

Lowery used a nine-iron to ace the 130-yard eighth hole for his first hole in one on the tour.

“I guess it was a good time to do it,” he said. “It flew close and spun by and hopped right in.”

On the first day of the $3-million tournament, there were a lot of balls hopping right in. Thirteen of the 30 players in the field had scores in the 60s, scores made possible by the damp weather, which softened greens on the Lake Course into friendly catcher’s mitts.

“The fog kept the greens soft,” Lowery said. “I know they can really play firm and fast, but they were a little more receptive today.”

As it turns out, Frost is a big fan of fog.

“As long as the sun stays away, the greens are going to stay soft,” he said.

Frost took advantage of the greens with a consistent putter. He needed only 24 putts, 11 of them on the front nine, after an early-morning revelation in his hotel room.

Frost grabbed the putter out of his bag, moved his right hand down the grip and knew he was onto something.

“I suppose it helps, you know, fiddling with the grip sometimes,” he said.

It also helps if you can see the flagsticks. Because of the fog, Frost couldn’t see the flag on the first hole or the 11th hole--before his second shots.

McCumber’s problems were even more acute. Listed at 5 feet 8, his line of sight was already restricted.

“My round today started in a fog,” he said. “My golf game seemed to match the weather. You can’t see your targets clearly.

“We have a lot of nice trees here--if you can see them.”

You don’t have to look very far to find the rest of the golfers who had a good day.

Rick Fehr, who is alone at 67, put off hernia surgery this week to play for the $540,000 winner’s share.

At 68 are Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson. Greg Norman, Corey Pavin, Mark Brooks, Bruce Lietzke and Jay Haas shot 69.

Glasson has had his best year on the tour, winning $557,110, which was 22nd on the money list. He won at Phoenix and had six top-10 finishes in 20 starts.

Concerned about his driving, Glasson wasn’t sure how he was going to play. He missed four fairways and four greens but made up for it with his putting.

He missed a four-foot birdie putt on No. 17 and a five-footer on No. 15, but Glasson was satisfied.

Frost, playing with Glasson, had four birdies on the front nine and the lowest score at the turn, a 31. He began with a birdie on the 533-yard first hole when he hit a sand wedge to 10 feet and made the putt.

He made a 10-footer at No. 5 for another birdie and added birdies on Nos. 8 and 9. On No. 8, where Lowery made his ace, Frost hit an eight-iron 15 feet behind the hole and made the putt.

Frost’s only birdie on the back nine was at the 522-yard 17th, where he sank a six-footer.

McCumber made his move after the turn. He had five birdies on the back side, including three in four holes from No. 10 through No. 13 on putts of 15, seven and 10 feet.

He finished with a two-foot birdie putt on No. 16, a five-foot birdie putt on No. 17 and a 10-foot par putt on 18.

Afterward, McCumber said he would like to do it all over again, fog or not.

“If you can promise me 66, I’ll be foggy for the front nine every day,” he said.

With 13 players under 70 after the first round, there’s no telling who is going to win.

Frost was asked to pick a winner. He couldn’t do it. He hadn’t the foggiest.