AVONDALE, La. -- Boo Weekley solved his uncharacteristic ball-striking problems with new shafts.
A day after changing the shafts in his irons, Weekley shot an 8-under 64 on Thursday in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for a share of the first-round lead with Brendon de Jonge.
"You go to tinkering around with clubs and you finally find a shaft, and (True Temper) finally stepped up and built me a set of clubs and they worked," said Weekley, the three-time PGA Tour winner who missed the cuts in four of his past six tournaments. "I've been missing something in my game, and it was because I (haven't) been able to control my irons. It just starts messing with you mentally."
Weekley had an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey at rain-softened TPC Louisiana. De Jonge, from Zimbabwe, had eight birdies in a bogey-free round.
Sean O'Hair and Canada's David Hearn shot 65 on the Pete Dye-designed layout.
Tour rookie Mark Hubbard had five consecutive birdies in the middle of his round and finished with a 66. He was tied with Erik Compton, Brian Davis, Greg Owen and Daniel Berger.
Dustin Johnson, ranked No. 7 in the world, was at 67 in a large group that included former Zurich winner K.J. Choi and Jason Day, the highest ranked player in the field at No. 6.
Weekley, from Milton, Florida, played in front of a number of family and friends. He eagled the par-5 second hole and added birdies on the fifth and eighth holes. He bogeyed the ninth, but rallied with birdies on Nos. 11-13 and closed with a birdie on the par-5 18th.
De Jonge, starting on the back nine, birdied three consecutive holes after a par on his first hole and made the turn at 4 under. He had four consecutive birdies on the back, but failed to birdie the par-5 eighth.
Bryce Molder (Conway) had six birdies and three bogeys for a 3-under 69. David Lingmerth (Arkansas Razorbacks) had a 1-over 73.
Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) shot a 5-over 77 and Scott Gardiner (Farmington) had a 7-over 79.
LPGA
Ko takes lead
DALY CITY, Calif. -- Lydia Ko settled for a tap-in birdie on the par-5 14th after her eagle chip deflected off the pin and the defending champion shot a 5-under 67 to take the first-round lead Thursday in the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic.
The top-ranked Ko holds a one-stroke lead over three others, including 54-year-old Juli Inkster. Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks), last year's runner-up to Ko at Lake Merced Golf Club, was two strokes back at 3 under.
"It was probably one of the craziest rounds of golf I've ever played," said Lewis, who recovered from four bogeys on her front nine with an eagle on the par-4 11th and three birdies on the back.
Ko will celebrate her 18th birthday on the course Friday. Paired with Anna Nordqvist and Lexi Thompson, Ko pulled on a jacket midway through the round in the afternoon chill and finished strong.
Ko had birdies on consecutive holes three times -- Nos. 5-6, 8-9 and 13-14 -- with just one bogey while playing after a two-week break from competition.
Back for a second consecutive year at Lake Merced in the San Francisco suburbs, the tournament drew 18 of the top 20 players in the world -- and it would have been one more before eighth-ranked Suzann Pettersen withdrew Wednesday because of an ailing shoulder.
Bay Area fan favorite Paula Creamer was at risk of missing the cut after a 10-over 82. She had four bogeys and a pair of double bogeys.
EUROPEAN PGA
Trio ties for first
SHANGHAI -- Most golfers at the Volvo China Open had trouble keeping their approach shots from flying off the firm greens at Tomson Golf Course on Thursday.
For a trio of European Tour veterans playing some of their best golf at the moment, the difficult conditions didn't pose too much of a problem.
Michael Hendry, Bradley Dredge and David Howell each shot a 4-under 68 to top the crowded leaderboard after a first round in which low scores proved difficult to post.
Hendry and Dredge were the only golfers to complete bogey-free rounds, while Howell had one bogey to go with five birdies.
"The greens were really firm so the big thing was if you were hitting fairways, you had chances on the par 5s and short irons," said Dredge, a 41-year-old Welshman. "It was never easy getting the ball close to the hole with slopes on the greens and the firmness, it was quite tricky around there."
The three were a stroke ahead of defending champion Alexander Levy and Julien Quesne of France and Marcus Fraser of Australia in joint-fourth.
China's top player, Li Haotong, and Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat both shot 71 to sit in tie for 14th. Last Sunday, Kiradech beat the 19-year-old Li in a playoff to capture his second European Tour title at the Shenzhen International.
Among the other Chinese golfers in the field is Guan Tianlang, who made headlines two years ago when he became the youngest player ever to make the cut at the Masters at the age of 14. Now 16, Guan had a triple-bogey on par-4 11th hole to sit in 76th place after a 75.
Sports on 04/24/2015