The Daily Wrap-up, Round 1: FBR Open

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James Nitties shot a 6-under 65 on Thursday to own a share of the first-round lead at the FBR Open.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- In his PGA TOUR bio, James Nitties lists his special interests as "clubbing, girls, movies."

RELATED LINKS

Leaderboard: Round 1 scores
Scorecard: James Nitties
Scorecard: Lucas Glover
The Live Report: Round 1
Hoffman taking new approach
Player interviews
Notes: Tidbits from the course
Photos: Round 1
Sirius|XM Podcast: Round 1

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Highlights: Round 1
Perry sinks long birdie
PGA TOUR Today

He's come to the right place.

Nitties shot a 6-under 65 on Thursday for a share of the first-round lead with Lucas Glover in the FBR Open at TPC Scottsdale, renowned as the most partying stop on the PGA TOUR.

The opening round was no party for local favorite Phil Mickelson, tied for 121st after shooting a 5-over 76 in his first round of the year.

Play was called due to darkness with nine players still on the course.

While Mickelson searched for answers, Nitties was reveling in the FBR Open's anything-goes atmosphere.

"This is one of the events I was looking forward to the most," said Nitties, a 26-year-old Australian. "If you knew me, it's tough for me to concentrate out here. But on the flip side, I'm on the PGA TOUR and I'm not going to take it for granted, so I know when to put my partying on hold, and I know when to put in hard work. Yeah, there's some good sights out there."

On Thursday, there were also some bad sights -- such as Mickelson digging his drives out of cacti on the 11th and 13th holes.

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NEWLY MARRIED HOFFMAN OFF TO SOLID START
By Bill Huffman, Special to PGATOUR.COM

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- The FBR Open is not exactly the "how low can you go?" 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer, but don't try to tell that to Charley Hoffman.

The long-haired dude from Las Vegas, whose only PGA TOUR win came at the 2007 Bob Hope Classic, said he plans to stay aggressive in 2009 no matter where the big boys are teeing it up.

"Obviously, I haven't played up to what I thought I would ever since I won my first tournament,'' said Hoffman, 32, who has posted just four other top 10s in the past two years, his best finish being a tie for fifth at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in September of 2007.

"But the biggest disappointment of all has been that I haven't even really contended. This year, I'm refocused and plan to play much more aggressively. More than anything, I want to get back into contention after not being in contention for a long time. That's the only way you can play out here if you want to win: attack the pins. Hopefully, that pans out for birdies, not bogeys.''

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Thursday's Best

EASIEST HOLE TOUGHEST HOLE The par-4 17th hole tied with the par-5 third hole for the easiest with No. 17 having a scoring average of 3.577. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 60 PARS: 58 BOGEYS: 3 OTHERS: 2 The par-4 11th hole was the toughest with a scoring average of 4.260. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 17 PARS: 63 BOGEYS: 38 OTHERS: 5

SHOT OF THE DAY ROUND OF THE DAY Kenny Perry drained a 43-foot putt for birdie on No. 18 to close out an otherwise mediocre round of 72. Watch his shot James Nitties birdied five of six holes, including four in a row, at one point for a 6-under 65 that gave him a share of the lead. Check out his scorecard

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"This was one of the events I was looking forward to the most. If you knew me, it's tough for me to concentrate out here. But on the flipside, I'm on the PGA TOUR and I'm not going to take it for granted. I know when to put my partying on hold and I know when to put in hard work." -- James Nitties responding to listing girls and clubbing in the PGA TOUR media guide as his interests.

INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent Fred Albers offers these observations from Thursday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.com.

James Nitties is a PGA TOUR rookie from Australia whose 6-under 65 has him tied for the lead with Lucas Glover after the opening round of the FBR Open. Not much is known about the Aussie so broadcasters went to the PGA TOUR media guide for some quick information. Under hobbies Nitties lists, "clubbing and girls." In his post-round interview Nitties asked, "Do you think I should change that, maybe it gives the wrong impression...but that is what I like."

J.B. Holmes came up with a simple explanation why he plays well at TPC Scottsdale. The two-time champion says he feeds off the applause from the large crowds at places like the FBR Open and Ryder Cup. Holmes had the crowd roaring with five straight birdies on holes 13-17 but the gallery dwindled on his final nine holes and so did the birdies. Holmes hit one green on his final 10 holes, finishing at 1-under 70.

When a player helps the PGA TOUR Network with some pre-round interviews on a Wednesday, I always tell the player, "You just earned some good karma with the golf gods." Matt Kuchar made a 66-foot birdie at the fifth hole, looked in my direction and mouthed the word "karma." We are always glad to send karma in a player's direction on the PGA TOUR Network.

What the top finishers said...

Player Position Score Comment James Nitties T1 6 under "Getting to the final [stage of q-school] I prepared really well. I worked really hard on my fitness and my game prior to the tournament, and no clubbing or alcohol for three months, which is tough for me. But when you've got an opportunity like that, you've got to make the most of it. And I did, I played well at final stage and finished second." Lucas Glover T1 6 under "I put a lot of time in in the off-season. I took about six weeks off after the FedExCup last year and didn't do a whole lot. I worked pretty hard about the middle of November on. If the weather was good at home I was out there doing something, and I spent a good bit a week before the Hope and got ready." David Berganio Jr. T3 5 under "It took over five years to get into my head the fact that I don't have to pound balls for eight hours. I'm good now. I mean, I'm not going to lose my swing overnight." Charley Hoffman T3 5 under "The fairways are real tight, like I said, and the greens are getting firm even in the morning. I think it's going to be tough for guys to score out there. The greens are perfect and they're rolling good, but I think it's hard to get a lot of shots close to the pins."

Read full interview transcripts

James Nitties Lucas Glover David Berganio Jr. Charley Hoffman Full archive

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FIRST-ROUND NOTEBOOK: FBR OPEN
By Doug Milne, PGA TOUR Staff

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Due to darkness, play was stopped at 6:05 p.m. Nine players did not complete Round 1. Play to finish the first round will resume at 8:00 a.m. Friday morning.

• In the morning wave, PGA TOUR rookie James Nitties fired a 6-under-par 65 in Round 1 of the 2009 FBR Open to take the early lead by one stroke over David Berganio Jr. and Charley Hoffman.

• Nitties, who hails from Australia, earned his rookie status by virtue of finishing second to Harrison Frazar at the 2008 Qualifying Tournament in Palm Springs, Calif. Last week, Nitties returned to the Palm Springs area, where he shot a 10-under-par 62 in Round 4 (of five rounds) at the Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer, only to miss the cut.

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