Thursday, Oct. 12, 2000 | 10:09 a.m.
Bob May's opening round Wednesday in the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas couldn't have been more dissimilar than the round in August that gained him international fame.
Except the results were eerily similar.
May, the 32-year-old Summerlin resident who battled Tiger Woods in a gripping three-hole playoff at the PGA Championship eight weeks ago, carded a 7-under-par 65 at the Desert Inn Golf Club and entered today's second round just two shots off the lead.
But unlike the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, there was no Tiger Woods, no 30,000 raucous fans cheering his every shot and little pressure for May on Wednesday morning.
Playing in front of a gallery that numbered only about a dozen, May played as solidly as he did in shooting that now-famous 66 in the final round at Valhalla, where he finished second to Woods.
"It was just a casual round," May said. "I'm going right back home and I'm going to baby-sit my 14-day-old daughter and let my wife go do whatever she needs to do and just sit around the house. It's kind of like I do normally with my buddies when we play.
"I had three good amateur guys to play with and we played in four hours and thirty minutes ... on the tour lately, we've been playing in five hours ... so it was a nice pace."
May had eight birdies and one bogey on a near-perfect day at the 7,193-yard Desert Inn, but had several chances to equal or better Bruce Lietzke's opening-round 63.
After making birdie at the par-4 second hole, May missed birdie putts of 6 and 8 feet on the next two holes before going on a birdie binge. May played the final five holes on the front side in four under par, with birdies at Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 9 to make the turn at 5 under.
May went to 6 under with a birdie on the par-5 10th hole and hit 7 under with a birdie on the par-4 13th hole. He gave a shot back on the par-4 14th when his approach shot caught a greenside bunker -- one of only two greens he missed all day -- and two-putted for bogey.
After making birdie on each of the first three par-5s, May pulled his tee shot on No. 15 into the left rough, had to lay up, then two-putted from 8 feet for par.
"At 15, I told myself to hit 3-wood off there and I ended up trying to hit driver and turn it around the corner and get it way down there," May said. "I pulled it a little left and caught the tree.
"That's the only thing that was really upsetting about the round."
May took pars at Nos. 16 and 17 before draining a 20-foot putt for birdie on the par-4 18th.
"I hit some really close shots on three and four and missed those," May said. "I made a few putts coming in and missed that one on 15, which would have been nice to make.
"It was just a solid round of golf."
May, who is in search of his first PGA Tour win, said getting off to a good start was important.
"You don't want to have to try to make up ground," he said. "I just wanted to come out and have a good, solid round of golf today and I was lucky enough to get it done."
As far as playing at home is concerned, May said that doesn't necessarily give him an advantage over the rest of the 144-player field.
"If anything, there's more pressure on you because you're supposed to play good (at home)," May said. "People think that since you live here, you know all the golf courses like the back of your hand. I don't play them that much; I haven't played this golf course since last year."
What proved to be more of a confidence-builder for May on Wednesday was the weather -- or the lack thereof.
"It started off a little windy this morning, then it kind of subsided and we had some light winds -- just enough to throw a ball around a little bit every so often, but nothing like we were anticipating," he said.
"When you come out and have better conditions than you're anticipating, it always puts you in a better frame of mind."
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