Damron Right at Home in Top Spot at Bay Hill

Robert Damron grew up about 400 yards from the 10th fairway of the Bay Hill Club in Orlando, Fla., and says he has played the course more than 1,000 times.

Seldom has he played it better than on Thursday, when he hit a delicate downhill chip to tap-in range for par at 18, finishing a seven-under-par 65 just before thunderstorms stopped play for good.

Damron’s bogey-free round gave him the early lead in the clubhouse by three strokes over Bernhard Langer, whose longest birdie putt was 15 feet in his round of 68.

But the lead was tenuous, because only eight players finished rounds and only 79 players began them in a field in which 36 of the top 50 players in the world are on hand.

They include Tiger Woods, who was at four under through 11 holes and was facing a 40-foot putt for eagle on No. 12 when the siren sounded.

Also still on the course were Steve Stricker, who was at four under through 14 holes; John Daly, who played the front nine in three under; and Tom Lehman, who birdied his last two holes to get to three under through 13.

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Cindy Figg-Currier shot a six-under-par 67 and holds a two-shot lead after one round of the LPGA Standard Register Ping tournament at Phoenix.

Figg-Currier birdied five of the first 12 holes and went birdie-eagle on the 16th and 17th in her round, which also included two bogeys.

Her score was two shots better than those of Helen Alfredsson, Karen Weiss, Tina Barrett, Jane Geddes, Liselotte Neumann, Jackie Gallagher-Smith and Patty Sheehan.