Go Early to Rise

If you didn’t draw a morning tee time for Thursday’s first round of the Nissan Open, well, you were all wet.

It was really two golf tournaments for the price of one at Riviera Country Club.

The first was staged from dawn to noon, beneath wispy clouds and an off-shore breeze, the second beneath pelting raindrops, thunderclaps and umbrellas.

This is what can happen when you play a sport without a retractable dome.

At day’s end, after all the towels were put through wringers, the soggy situation was this:

First-year PGA Tour pro Brian Davis, a little-known Englishman, shot six-under-par 65 and holds a one shot lead over three players at 66: Darren Clarke, Brett Quigley and Luke Donald.

Resting two shots back at four-under 67 are Tiger Woods, two-time defending champion Mike Weir, Jose Coceres, Adam Scott, Kevin Sutherland, Omar Uresti and James Driscoll. John Daly eagled the ninth hole to finish with a 69.

First-round play was halted because of darkness with four players still on course.

Everyone knows Woods and Weir.

But who in the world (rankings) is Brian Davis?

He turns out to be a 31-year-old English bloke who earned his PGA Tour card this year by finishing first at Q-School and was playing Riviera professionally for the first time.

He started out by making eagle on the par-five first hole, amazing when you consider Davis didn’t even play a full practice round at Riviera. After missing the cut last week at Pebble Beach, he took Sunday and Monday off, then played 12 holes at Riviera on Tuesday before walking the final six holes.

“I have been tending to walk quite a few practice rounds, rather than play, because you can just overplay yourself,” Davis said.

Being a tour rookie in America can be hectic, as Davis doesn’t have the financial luxury of picking and choosing his tournaments.

When you’re a rookie trying to keep your card, it’s go, go, go.

“And I found when I got to Pebble, I was completely burned out,” Davis said. “ ... I’m just trying to prepare each week as it comes. But it is tough not knowing any of the golf courses.”

With his 8:50 a.m. tee time, Davis took the best from the course, and he had company.

Among the leaders, Coceres got his day started at 7:10, while several others took advantage of their wake-up calls: Clarke (7:30), Scott (7:40), Sutherland (7:50) and Woods (7:50).

Clarke claimed shot-of-the-day honors with his hole in one, with a seven-iron, on the par-three sixth hole.

Clarke flew his shot over the flag and watched as it just “trickled back in.”

He would call it “a little bit of skill and a lot of luck.”

A shot of a lifetime for most golfers, Clarke couldn’t even recall how many aces he has made in his.

“Don’t know,” he said. “Twenty-five? I’ve lost count.”

Woods took advantage of daybreak by posting his best-ever opening round at Riviera, yet he thought it could have been even better had he not three-putted three times.

“I putted like a fool today,” Woods said. “I putted terrible. An absolutely horrific day on the greens.”

Otherwise, his day was OK.

Woods thought he could have gone as low as 63 or 64 and taken control of a tournament he desperately wants to win.

He finished with seven birdies, three bogeys and a hint of regret.

“I felt like we should have taken advantage of the conditions a little bit more today,” he said.

As it stood, his 67 stood up well.

The key, in some cases, was not letting the rain get you down.

Donald and Quigley, for instance, shot 66s with tee times after 11 a.m., Weir didn’t get off until five minutes past noon, while Driscoll took the best score/worst tee time award with a 67 that didn’t kick off until 12:15.

You can let the weather play tricks on you -- why does Tiger always seem to beat the weather to the clubhouse? -- or you can suck it up and grind out a good score.

Two weeks ago, for instance, Donald was paired with Robert Allenby in Phoenix and got the worst of the weather.

The two were paired again Thursday in the 11:35 a.m. grouping.

Before they teed off, Donald said he looked at Allenby and wondered again about the bad draw.

Yet, Donald and others overcame the clear morning advantage to stay in competition (Allenby, the 2001 Nissan champion, is four shots back after shooting a 69).

“You just got to take the good with bad,” Donald said. “I’m sure I’m going to get some good drawings during the year and this might not be a good one here, but that’s just the rub of the green.”

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Leaderboard

First-round leaders of the Nissan Open at Riviera CC. Par-71, 7,223 yards. Four players did not finish the round because of darkness:

*--* LEADERS Brian Davis 30-35--65 -6 Darren Clarke 31-35--66 -5 Brett Quigley 32-34--66 -5 Luke Donald 32-34--66 -5 Jose Coceres 32-35--67 -4 Adam Scott 33-34--67 -4 Tiger Woods 35-32--67 -4 Kevin Sutherland 32-35--67 -4 Omar Uresti 31-36--67 -4 Mike Weir 34-33--67 -4 James Driscoll 33-34--67 -4

*--*

*--* OTHERS Steve Elkington 33-35--68 -3 Jose Maria Olazabal 33-35--68 -3 Justin Leonard 34-34--68 -3 John Daly 34-35--69 -2 Fred Couples 37-33--70 -1 Colin Montgomerie 35-36--71 E Jim Furyk 35-36--71 E Corey Pavin 36-35--71 E David Duval 33-41--74 +3 Paul Casey 36-38--74 +3 Kevin Na 38-37--75 +4

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