DiMarco Swings Into Lead

Chris DiMarco has done pretty well this season while battling a balky swing. So when that part of his game finally caught up with his putting Thursday, he went to the top of the leaderboard at the BellSouth Classic.

DiMarco shot a five-under-par 67 in the first round at the TPC of Sugarloaf, taking advantage of several short birdie chances after solid iron shots. He narrowly missed two more birdie putts from close range.

Six players were tied one shot back, including defending champion Retief Goosen, and another seven players were two shots behind. The event is the final tuneup for the Masters.

“I’ve been fighting my swing a little bit all year,” said DiMarco, who has three top-10 finishes in nine starts. “Today was one of the better swinging rounds I’ve had, where I was very consistent with my iron play and had a lot of really good shots at the hole.”

Rookie John E. Morgan briefly took the lead at six under with a two-putt birdie on the par-five fourth, his 13th hole, but a bogey three holes later moved him back into a tie with DiMarco. Then Morgan made a double bogey on his final hole, the par-four ninth, and joined that large group at 69.

Also two shots back were Fred Couples and past tournaments winners Paul Stankowski and Mark Calcavecchia. Stankowski was especially pleased with his round, which came a day after he struggled in the pro-am.

“They were ducking for cover most of the day,” Stankowski said of his amateur partners.

Phil Mickelson, playing in his first tournament since taking a month off for the birth of his third child, shot 73.