Gove, Campbell tied for lead

VERONA, N.Y. -- Jeff Gove and Chad Campbell each shot a seven-under-par 65 on Thursday to tie for the first-round lead at the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

Gove and Campbell, who finished one stroke off the Atunyote Golf Club course record, were one shot ahead of Steve Flesch, John Senden, Matthew Goggin and Brendon de Jonge. Both Goggin and De Jonge bogeyed their final holes to drop from the lead.

John Rollins, who won the final B.C. Open here just over a year ago with a closing 64, shot 67 and was tied for seventh with John Mallinger, Robert Allenby, Matt Hendrix and Tag Ridings.

Third-year pro David Branshaw, a native of nearby Oswego, was at 68, tied with Justin Leonard, Robert Gamez, Steve Lowery, Mark Hensby, Joey Sindelar and five others.

John Daly, coughing and apparently ailing, withdrew after seven holes, complaining he was ill with flu.

With conditions ideal on a warm, sunny day, Gove, ranked 152nd on the money list, used his stout iron play to take advantage of the wide and soft fairways on the 7,482-yard course. Second to Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour in greens in regulation (70.1%), Gove hit 16 of 18 on the day and made birdie on four of his first five holes, with three of the putts five feet or closer.

Flesch made six birdies on the first eight holes before his tee shot at No. 9 landed in a bunker and his second shot never made it out of the sand, stopping in an unplayable lie.

“I didn’t know what I was going to make,” Flesch said. “I saw that ball sitting on the lip, and I’m like, ‘Dear, God, what do I do?’ I called for an official, an excavator, an architect, I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Flesch finally blasted out to the front edge of the green and two-putted from 34 feet for double bogey. He then made a pair of birdies on the back nine before closing with six straight pars.

“I played OK coming in, kind of played a messy back nine but didn’t drop any more shots,” said Flesch, who hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation.