Weaver lands best shots in Round 1

~ The Californian took advantage of his late entry into the elite tournament field.

In a matter of four days, Michael Weaver went from the top of the waiting list for the AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions to the top of the leaderboard at Dalhousie Golf Club.

The unconventional route included a last-second 2,000-mile flight from Weaver's hometown of Fresno, Calif., to Missouri, followed by an opening-round 67 that staked the California-Berkeley signee to a one-shot lead when play concluded Wednesday.

Weaver played in five AJGA events last summer after his junior year and had two top-10 finishes, but did not make his AJGA debut in 2009 until last week, when he finished 10-under par and won by four shots at the AJGA ClubCorp Mission Hills Desert Junior in Rancho Mirage, Calif.

"That was my first win in AJGA, and that was very gratifying," Weaver said. "To win a tournament like that against a strong field, it's validation for all your hard work."

Michael Weaver watches his iron shot from the 17th fairway Wednesday during his first round at the AJGA Rolex Tournament of Champions at Dalhousie Golf Club. He shot a 5-under-par 67 for a one-stroke lead. (Kit Doyle)

The last-minute victory earned him more than validation. It also carried a conditional invitation to this week's tournament. If someone were to opt out of the Rolex, Weaver would get the first shot at the spot.

"The tournament director, Andrew [Greenfield], called me on Sunday morning and said if I could get to Missouri I'd be in," Weaver said. "So I booked a flight Sunday morning, left Monday morning and got here Monday night and played a practice round yesterday, and now I'm here."

Here is one shot ahead of Johnathan Schnitzer and Talor Gooch, two Big 12-bound golfers who opened with 68s.

The victory and his ensuing entry in the tournament allowed the field to witness the torrid run that Weaver has been on for months.

"I really hit my stride last fall," Weaver said. "I think part of it was, after I signed with Cal-Berkeley, after that it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. I signed with the school I wanted to go to and that was like a relief, and I started playing better."

He worked on his short game and putting over the winter and virtually has been unstoppable since.

This spring, Weaver said he went through a two-month stretch where he didn't shoot over par. The run for the Clovis West High School senior included a runner-up finish in the California high school state tournament, where he lost in a playoff for the title.

"I had a really good run," Weaver said. "I pretty much won just about every high school tournament. I mean the fields aren't nothing like this. But every time you're on top, it's a good feeling."

Weaver rode sizzling iron play to six birdies. His only blemish was a three-putt on the par-4 No. 17, which resulted in his lone bogey.

"I hit every fairway and every green, and that was probably the first time I did that, so that was pretty cool," Weaver said. "My putting was average, but I was hitting the ball good enough where I didn't have real long putts and I was able to make a few of them."

He buzzed through the front nine with a 3-under 33. His longest of three birdies in that stretch was from 4 feet, and the shortest was from 6 inches on the 218-yard par-3 No. 8, where he nearly sank a 4-iron off the tee.

His round possibly could have gone lower than his career-best 65 in tournament play had he converted on two back-to-back, 5-foot birdie putts on the back nine. His attempt on No. 14 lipped away, while his putt on No. 15 did a horseshoe around the hole. He then missed a 2-footer on No. 17.

"I maybe could have been three or four lower, but that would of been like a perfect round," Weaver said. "If I make every single putt within 10 feet, it maybe could have been 63 or 64, but you can't bank on that. But I'm happy with a 67."

While he made Wednesday's trip around Dalhousie look easy, he realizes there's a lot of golf left. Just a stroke behind Texas-bound Schnitzer and Gooch, were Austin Cook, last year's Rolex runner-up Jeffrey Kang and T.J. Vogel.

"It's only Wednesday, we have three more rounds," Weaver said. "You have to take it a day at a time, and a shot at a time. There's no need to get ahead of myself."

Seven players were tied at 70 and a total of 33 golfers in the 78-player field were at par or under.

"This is probably the strongest field I've played in, no doubt," Weaver said. "To play well, it's a good feeling to be leading right now."

The hottest start of the day belonged to Gooch of Midwest City, Okla. The 18-year-old bound for Oklahoma State birdied three of his first four holes and made the turn at 4-under 32.

"There wasn't much wind today and the greens were really soft, so the conditions were perfect for scoring," Gooch said. "I knew there were going to be quite a few guys that were going to go low. So birdieing three of the first four was a pretty good confidence booster. I knew I was going to be in good shape to begin with."

After hitting every green on the front, Gooch missed a couple of greens on the back, where he shot an even-par 36 with two birdies and two bogeys.

He said he had to fight the temptation of looking ahead to the back nine after his tournament-low tour through the front.

"Me and my coach have non-allowed thoughts, and whenever that happens, I have to do something to get it out of my head as soon as possible," Gooch said. "As soon as I get it out of my head, I can move on."

Kang, who will attend USC in the fall on a golf scholarship, said he is off to a better start than in last year's tournament, where he rallied to place second.

"I was pleased with how I played today," he said. "I could have taken it a lot lower today, but I'm not complaining."

His card included five birdies and two bogeys.

"This course, you can make double here very easily, and keeping a double off my card today was something I did well today," Kang said. "Both bogeys were bad mistakes."

He said last year's tournament was on a tougher course, but that Dalhousie could make for a long day.

"It can play either way," Kang said. "The course we played last year was straight difficult. But here, I think it can work both ways. It can be easy if you're having a good day, but really hard if you're having a bad day."

Easy would apply to Weaver.

"I just got in a groove off the tee and with my irons, and it was easy today," Weaver said. "Hopefully it will be like that the next three days. That would be great."