Kim's Birdie Barrage Beats the Rain to Lead Colonial

May 24, 10:10 PM

Current Headlines: FORT WORTH, Texas _ For the better part of Thursday's opening round, Anthony Kim said he felt like he was putting with "my eyes closed" at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

That changed shortly after Kim gave himself a less-than-supportive lecture after a bogey at No. 12.

"I gave myself quite a talking to ... probably stuff I shouldn't be saying," said Kim, who turned in an eye-opening performance on the greens the rest of the way.

Kim closed with six consecutive birdies, the longest birdie streak on the 2007 PGA Tour. As a result, the youngest player in the Colonial field controlled the leader board when play was suspended because of rain during Thursday's opening round.

Kim, 21, capped a round of 7-under par 63 with his final birdie of the day, a 15-footer from the fringe at No. 18, to take a one-stroke lead over Ted Purdy and Jeff Maggert among the 57 competitors who completed their opening rounds.

That means the other 57 starters _ those with afternoon tee times _ were still on the course when play was suspended at 3:08 p.m. CDT. Those golfers will return to Colonial at 8:30 a.m. Friday, hoping to complete their suspended rounds. Adjusted tee times for second-round groups will be determined Friday.

Kim, a finalist for the 2006 Ben Hogan Award, completed his nine-birdie, two-bogey effort long before 1.5 inches of rain fell at Colonial in roughly one hour. While Kim was on the course, the only thing falling was birdie putts. The PGA Tour rookie made the last six he attempted, with distances varying from 3 to 17 feet, during a 25-putt round that included nine holes where he needed one or zero putts.

His most dramatic birdie came at No. 5, where he holed a 71-foot bunker blast. But the biggest, from a momentum-turning standpoint, came at No. 13, where he brushed home a 4-footer to start his closing birdie barrage.

"The ball just came off the putter a little bit different," said Kim, a former University of Oklahoma golfer who ranks 33rd on the season money list ($1,008,278). "It actually found the cup. I enjoyed hearing that noise and I was close enough, for once, to actually hear that noise. ... Usually, when something turns around during a round, you can tell. I still don't know what it was."

But he was happy to accept the birdie putts that fell over the next five holes, from distances of 3, 17, 9, 10 and 15 feet. It marked the longest birdie streak during a Colonial round since Keith Clearwater made seven in a row to cap a course-record 61 in 1993.

Kim, however, might not see his streak carry him to the official first-round lead. Several golfers were significantly under par during suspended rounds, with Frank Lickliter at 5 under through eight holes, including chip-in birdies at Nos. 5 and 7. Kevin Na was 4 under through eight holes on a day when golfers benefited from rain-softened greens and minimal morning winds.

"If you are hitting it in there to 10 or 15 feet, there is no excuse not to make a few of those. The putting surfaces are excellent," said Maggert, who offset seven birdies with a lone bogey during a 64.

But when afternoon wind gusts reached 44 mph and the heavy rains fell, washing out bunkers, PGA Tour officials pulled the plug on Thursday's action. Kim, a Dallas resident, hopes his putting stroke remains primed for his final 54 holes.

"Early in the round, I felt like I couldn't tap one in," Kim said. "I felt uncomfortable over the ball. I don't know what changed. But the putts started falling and six birdies came out of it."

Enough to carry Kim, on a rainy day at Colonial, to the top of the leader board.

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