FARMINGTON, Pa. - With three holes to play and a long run of below-par holes behind him, Shaun Micheel must have had that magic number - 59 - in mind Thursday at the 84 Classic Lumber Classic.
Maybe that's why the 65 he settled for probably seems like a disappointment now, even though he gladly would have settled for it before the round began.
Micheel, who has done little on the PGA Tour since winning the 2003 PGA Championship, bogeyed the final three holes on the 7,516-yard Mystic Rock course to settle for a 7-under 65 and a four-way tie with Mark O'Meara, South Korea's Charlie Wi and Nationwide Tour phenom Jason Gore.
It's an eclectic group that has accomplished little on tour this year despite having two former major winners in O'Meara and Micheel, with none ranking higher on the money list than Micheel's No. 155. O'Meara is nearing 50 and finds himself looking ahead to the Champions Tour, while Gore has just begun playing on the PGA Tour after winning three consecutive Nationwide events.
Gore shot a 59 in one of them and the way Micheel was playing through 15 holes, it looked like he might take a run at it, too. He went from 1 under to 9 under in a span of nine holes from No. 15, through an eagle at the 598-yard No. 5, getting six birdies along the way after starting his round at No. 10.
But with a chance to open up a big lead on a day when there were far more 7 unders than defending champion Vijay Singh projected - he thought 3 or 4 under would be good enough for the lead - Micheel began dropping strokes as quickly as he had been picking them up.
Singh, playing on a course where a statue of him was erected following his 84 Lumber win a year ago, is tied for 53rd place in a large group at 72. Phil Mickelson, second on the money list and playing the tournament for the first time, is in danger of missing the cut following an opening round 73.
In a scary moment, No. 4 money winner David Toms was rushed to a nearby hospital after developing a rapid heartbeat halfway through his round. He was listed in stable condition Thursday night at UPMC Presbyterian University hospital in Pittsburgh.
Toms was even-par through nine holes - he started on No. 18 - before being taken initially to Uniontown Hospital.
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