Scottsdale, AZ (Best E Casino) - John Mallinger and Doug LaBelle II both fired rounds of seven-under 63 on Thursday to share the first-round lead of the Frys.com Open.
Richard Johnson is alone in third place at six-under 64 at Grayhawk Golf Club.
For Mallinger, the first-round lead is an extension of strong play. Last week in Las Vegas, Mallinger shared third place and thinks that the dry air might have something to do with his success.
"You're playing desert golf, so it's pretty similar," said Mallinger. "This week there's overseed in the fairways, but other than that, greens are kind of similar. When you play in the same climate, the balls go the same distance, so you get pretty comfortable."
Mallinger began on the 10th tee Thursday and promptly birdied his first two holes. He parred three in a row, but closed strongly with three birdies in his last four holes.
On his second nine, Mallinger birdied two and five to reach seven-under par for the championship. At the seventh, Mallinger found trouble on the right and failed to convert a 10-footer for par.
He appeared to rebound right away when he hit his approach close at eight. Mallinger missed that birdie putt, but got the dropped stroke back with a 10- foot birdie at his last.
"I've been putting well for a couple weeks," said Mallinger. "I've been hitting it well, but when I'm hitting it close I'm usually converting, so just trying to keep that going for the rest of the week."
LaBelle, who is staying at home this week, about 10 minutes away in north Phoenix, also played the second nine first in round one. He collected birdies at 11 and 12, then added another at 15. LaBelle bogeyed the 18th, but more than atoned for that error. He birdied one and two to get to four-under par for the tournament.
It was LaBelle's finish that gave him a share of the lead.
At the par-four sixth, LaBelle drained an 18-footer for birdie. He followed that birdie up with a four-footer for birdie at No. 7 and was within one of Mallinger.
LaBelle parred the eighth, but sank a 15-footer at his last to join Mallinger atop the leaderboard.
"It's always nice to finish with a birdie," said LaBelle. "I can't complain. I've had some really good putting sessions this week, and it's worked out pretty well for me so far. I also made a lot of good five- to six-footers for par to keep my round going."
Arron Oberholser, Chris Stroud, Mathias Gronberg, J.J. Henry, Marco Dawson and Todd Demsey are knotted in fourth place at five-under 65.
Defending champion Mike Weir, Bill Haas, Robert Garrigus, Jason Day, Y.E. Yang and 1995 PGA Champion Steve Elkington are tied for 10th place at four-under- par 66.
