First-round notebook – Wyndham Championship
* Weather: Due to a dangerous weather situation first-round play was suspended at 12:24 p.m. Play resumed at 4:30 p.m. for a total delay of 4:06. Play was suspended due to darkness at 7:58 p.m. with half the field still on the course. First-round play will resume Friday morning at 7:45 a.m.* The day featured mostly cloudy skies with afternoon thunderstorms and temperatures reaching the low-90s. Winds SW 10-15 mph.
* The Wyndham Championship is the 12th Tournament of the season to have a suspension of play. The last event was the RBC Canadian Open, which was one of two events this season with a Monday finish (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am).
* Brandt Snedeker, Chez Reavie and Ryan Moore shot a 6-under 64 to take the first round co-lead after the morning wave. Justin Rose, Kevin Streelman and Colt Knost are all one stroke back.
* Brandt Snedeker turned in the third best round of his PGA Tour career and the best since he shot a final-round 63 to win the 2007 Wyndham Championship. Snedeker’s best round on Tour was a 61 at the 2007 Buick Invitational.
* If his lead/co-lead holds up, it will be Brandt Snedeker’s second first-round lead. He also led after the first-round of the 2007 Buick Invitational (finished 3rd).
* Chez Reavie tied his career-best round, which he accomplished three times prior to today including when he won the 2008 RBC Canadian Open as a rookie.
* Chez Reavie’s only other lead/co-lead after the first-round came when he won the 2008 RBC Canadian Open.
* Ryan Moore came within one stroke of matching his career-best round. Moore’s best rounds on Tour are 63s at the 2005 Michelin Championship and 2007 Fry’s Electronic Open (T6).
* Ryan Moore has held the lead/co-lead after the first-round one other time in his career, at the 2008 EDS Byron Nelson Championship (2nd). Moore has five second-place finishes on Tour since 2005, but has not been able to claim a victory.
* Justin Rose, ranked 103rdin the FedExCup standings, is looking for his sixth top 25 finish this season on the PGA Tour. Rose’s best finish this season is T13 at the British Open. Prior to today, the last time Rose shot a 65 was the first-round of the 2008 Travelers Championship.
* This season on the PGA Tour, only seven of 35 first-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to victory.
* The top 96 players in the FedExCup standings coming into the Wyndham Championship have locked in a spot at The Barclays for the first event of the PGA Tour Playoff for the FedExCup. This means that all the players ranked 97 or higher in the FedExCup standings are "on the bubble" and are fighting to get into the top 125.
* New Zealand golfer Danny Lee, 19, needs to earn $141,404 this week at the Wyndham Championship to earn special temporary membership on the PGA Tour and continue playing this season. If Lee does not earn $141,404, he will have to wait until the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament in December to earn his card for next season.
* As the final event in the FedExCup Regular Season, the Wyndham Championship plays a vital role in the race to the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedExCup. In the offseason, the field size for the first Playoff event was decreased from 144 to 125 and the Wyndham Championship will serve as the final stage for players trying to move or stay inside the top 125 in the FedExCup standings.
* Another key change this season was moving the points reset from the beginning of the Playoffs to after the BMW Championship (third event). This guarantees that all 30 players at THE Tour Championship presented by Coca-Cola will have a mathematical chance at winning the FedExCup. It also means that the top five players in the FedExCup points entering THE Tour Championship will control their own destiny – if they win the Tour Championship they will also win the FedExCup.
* There have not been any rookie winners on Tour so far this season. The last season that a rookie failed to capture a win was in 1998, the year that Steve Flesch won PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors. Actually, since 1979 there have only been three seasons (1998, 1986 and 1981) where a rookie failed to capture a victory.
* Steve Elkington recorded a hole-in-one on No. 3 with a 6-iron.
* Tim Clark (neck) withdrew during the first-round. Steve Flesch (no reason given) withdrew following the first-round.
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