Long Putts Help Faxon Take Lead

Brad Faxon has putted well for as long as he can remember. He doesn’t know why or how. But if he tries to analyze his skill too much, he will mess it all up.

So he just putts.

Faxon made two 30-footers and four more from beyond 10 feet Thursday. He shot a seven-under 65 and was the clubhouse leader when heavy rain suspended the opening round of the Honda Classic at Coral Springs, Fla.

“I try to putt like it’s shooting baskets with your friends,” Faxon said. “I try to make it so easy and simple and thoughtless.... I putted great. I had good feel around the greens. I saw the lines. But that’s when I putt my best: When it’s easy.

“I know there’s no explanation for that or nothing that will sell a book, but I don’t really worry about that.”

Faxon birdied four of his final five holes, getting off the TPC at Heron Bay just before play was suspended.

Nearly two inches of rain had fallen when the first round was postponed in the afternoon.

Skip Kendall, having teed off on the 16th when play was stopped, was one shot behind Faxon and one stroke ahead of Fulton Allem, Per-Ulrik Johansson, Dudley Hart and Michael Allen.

*

Defending champion Thomas Bjorn shot a five-under-par 67 for a share of the first-round lead at the Dubai Desert Classic in United Arab Emirates.

Bjorn, coming back from a shoulder injury, was tied with Robert Karlsson after a five-birdie, no-bogey round at Emirates Golf Club.

“It was different out there and it certainly felt like I hadn’t played golf for a while,” said Bjorn, a Dane who makes Dubai his winter home. “I felt nervous early on and the decisions on the shots were hard to make.”