ST. SIMONS ISLAND, October 13, 2011 (AFP) - Webb Simpson, chasing England's Luke Donald for the US PGA Tour money title, equalled his best score of the season Thursday for a share of the first-round lead at the McGladrey Classic.
Simpson notched eight birdies in a seven-under 63, and was joined atop the leaderboard by rookie Zack Miller.
"There's no way I can play this golf tournament without thinking about the money title," Simpson said.
"I'm thinking about it every day. But I'm not over every shot thinking, 'This is for the money title.' It's more that I'm just trying my best to get focused on winning the golf tournament."
Simpson has two victories in his last five tournaments and arrived at the low-key Fall Series event on the par-70 Seaside Course -- the penultimate event on the PGA Tour calendar -- trailing Donald by $68,971 atop the money list.
Simpson must finish in at least sole possesion of 15th place to surpass Donald this week.
Donald isn't playing this week, and has until Friday evening to decide whether to enter the season finale in Florida next week.
Simpson teed off on 10 and opened with a birdie. He added three more birdies in a row from the 14th before a bogey at the par-four 18th.
Four more birdies coming in had early starter Simpson in the clubhouse with the lead as the winds that had begun to kick up near the end of his round increased.
"It was getting a little gusty," Simpson said. "But I think one of the things this golf course is most known for is how the wind can just whip up off the water. That’s kind of one of its best defenses."
Miller's money worries are much different from Simpson's. At 146th on the money list, he's trying to stay in the top 150 and avoid a return to qualifying school.
Miller also teed off on 10, and picked up five shots in four holes with two birdies, an eagle and a birdie from the 13th.
A bogey at 18 cost Martin Piller a share of the lead. He was in a group on 64 that included Scott McCarron and Bill Horschel.
Two-time major champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina, and 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen were in a group of 10 players on 65.
They were joined by Australia's Nick O'Hern and Matt Jones, Sweden's Richard S. Johnson, Canadian David Hearn, Ben Crane, D.J. Trahan, Michael Thompson and Cameron Tringale.
Johnson, who had to go through qualifying school last year, opened the season with a right shoulder injury that he tried to play through, and having fallen to 186th on the money list is facing a return to Q-school anyway.
"Now I've got to get back to my old swing," he said. "When you're swinging injured, you get into some bad habits. I've been playing nicely at home, but it's just a matter of bringing it out here."
Leading first-round scores here on Thursday in the US PGA Tour's $4 million McGladrey Classic (USA unless noted, par-70)
63 - Webb Simpson, Zack Miller
64 - Scott McCarron, Billy Horschel, Martin Piller
65 - Richard S. Johnson (SWE), Ben Crane, Angel Cabrera (ARG), Nick O'Hern (AUS), D.J. Trahan, Michael Thompson, Cameron Tringale, Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Matt Jones (AUS), David Hearn (CAN)
...
66 - Henrik Stenson (SWE), Stephen Ames (CAN), Trevor Immelman (RSA)
67 - Rod Pampling (AUS), Alexandre Rocha (BRA), Bi-o Kim (KOR)
68 - Brian Davis (GBR), Richard Scott (CAN), Fabian Gomez (ARG), Adam Hadwin (CAN)
69 - Carl Pettersson (SWE), Matt McQuillan (CAN), Brendon de Jonge (ZIM), Paul Casey (GBR), Ryuji Imada (JPN)
70 - Robert Allenby (AUS), Graeme McDowell (NIR)
71 - Arjun Atwal (IND), Michael Sim (AUS), Nathan Green (AUS), Sunghoon Kang (KOR)
74 - Marc Leishman (AUS), Jarrod Lyle (AUS)
75 - Vijay Singh (FIJ), Steven Bowditch (AUS)