First day at Timberlake Shriners Open ends with five-way tie at the top

By Case Keefer (contact)

Friday, Oct. 22, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

Excuse Robert Garrigus for looking a bit uncomfortable while he finished his round on the ninth hole Thursday morning at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Garrigus made par on the hole to enter the clubhouse with the lead but said he should have birdied the 563-yard par five.

“I made par because I had to go to the bathroom so bad, I couldn’t even walk,” Garrigus said. “I was walking down the fairway thinking, I really need a restroom right now.”

Garrigus was in the first group to tee off at TPC Summerlin and figured his 7-under 64 wouldn’t hold up for the lead because of the perfect conditions. The course played soft because of yesterday’s rain and Thursday featured no wind or clouds all day.

But Garrigus, a 33-year old veteran from Scottsdale, Ariz., finished the first day of the tournament in a five-way tie at the top of the leaderboard with Will MacKenzie, John Senden, Michael Letzig, and Cameron Tringale.

“I got rolling today,” Garrigus said. “I didn’t miss a putt from inside about 16 feet.”

“I’m thinking really well and playing well. It feels really good.”

Garrigus has never won a PGA tournament, but he finished second at the St. Jude Classic in Memphis this summer after leading the competition all week.

He went to the 18th hole with a three-stroke lead in that tournament but triple-bogeyed to force a playoff that he ultimately lost to Lee Westwood. Garrigus said going through that collapse would help him this week.

“I was kind of relying on the fact that I was going to keep playing well, not going to hit a bad shot,” he said. “But when that bad shot happened, everything sped up. I learned that when that happens to take a couple minutes and don’t think about anything, just relax.”

Letzig and Tringale have also never won a tournament on the PGA Tour. Letzig had a wild day, rocketing out to a 6-under score on his first seven holes.

But then the 30-year old New Mexico graduate bogeyed two par-four holes to seemingly take himself out of an opportunity at the lead. Letzig bounced back in dramatic fashion by posting an eagle on the ninth hole, his final of the day.

“Just fell asleep in the middle of our round, played really sloppy,” Letzig said. “Missed a couple greens with wedges in my hand, just kind of got mad at myself. Had a great finish.”

Letzig is fighting to keep his tour card at 148th on this year’s money list. Only the top 125 receive an automatic exemption.

Tringale just recently earned his PGA Tour card. The 20-year old rookie, who played in college at Georgia Tech, has only made four of 20 cuts this season.

"I've been close," Tringale said. "I think the difference is just a couple more putts falling today. Hopefully I can go out there tomorrow and keep at it."

Senden and MacKenzie both have at least a decade of experience in the PGA Tour. MacKenzie has two titles, the last coming in 2008. Senden won the only tournament of his career in 2006.

“I went out there today and tried to stay patient,” Senden said. “I got into the right places and ended up with a low one. It was a fun day.”

Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.