Mayfair (65) Loves Doglegs

So Billy Mayfair spent the day rolling around Valencia Country Club on his way to a six-under-par 65 and the first-round lead of the Nissan Open.

This should come as no surprise, not after his careful preparation.

Mayfair got in lots of practice the night before when he stuck his twin Rottweilers, Dallas and Tulsa, in a shopping cart and rolled them through a pet supply store.

“My babies,” Mayfair said.

It’s a reformed pessimist, a fun-seeking, happy-go-lucky Mayfair who has a one-shot lead in the breezy Santa Clarita Valley. Stephen Ames, a Trinidad-born Canadian, finished off a five-under 66 just before dark to get close to Mayfair.

Phil Mickelson, Scott Hoch, Mike Standly, Shigeki Maruyama and Keiichiro Fukabori are next at four-under 67, but none of them brought their dogs with them.

The Mayfair Rottweiler sisters each weigh 110 pounds and they sleep on the floor of Mayfair’s hotel room. Sometime during the night, they sneak onto the bed to join Mayfair and his wife, Tammy.

Tulsa enjoys watching television in the hotel room. “But she only watches me on TV,” Mayfair said.

Then Tulsa saw quite a show Thursday in the sun and the wind. Mayfair produced an eight-birdie, two-bogey round that included five birdie putts of at least 10 feet.

Mayfair said he was lucky, that he had no problems seeing the line on his putts or gauging the speed. Even when he wasn’t on the green, he managed to come up with something special.

That would be what happened on the par-five 15th when his second shot landed behind a scoreboard and under a couple of trees. From 110 yards, he hit a low eight-iron and skidded the ball onto the green to two feet from the hole. He birdied from there but couldn’t believe it.

“I don’t want that shot over again,” Mayfair said.

He doesn’t want to replay the last two years either. In 1995, Mayfair won twice and was second on the money list with more than $1.5 million. But in 1996-97, Mayfair missed 24 cuts, played poorly and felt miserable.

He and Tammy nearly packed up and went home to Scottsdale, Ariz., during last year’s Byron Nelson Classic when Mayfair came to the conclusion he wasn’t having any fun. He stuck it out and then went to work over the winter.

“I practiced, practiced, practiced and promised myself not to get frustrated,” he said. “I had to try a new attitude and not let anything bother me.”

Until Thursday, it wasn’t working. If there’s a recipe for ill humor, it’s what Mayfair was cooking up this year. He missed the cut at the Bob Hope, tied for 41st at Phoenix, tied for 35th at Torrey Pines and at Hawaii and tied for 25th at Tucson.

But none of that got this fun-seeker down. “My goal is to go out and have fun,” he said. “It’s just not as easy as it sounds.”

With lift, clean and place the rule of the day because of soggy conditions, there were more than a few players who had a perfectly wonderful time.

Mickelson is using a new driver, enjoyed a bogey-free day and made the most of quick, soft greens that held most golf balls like big, green catchers’ mitts.

Hoch came back to the tour at Tucson after a month off to rest his back, which he injured working out. He said the key to his round was making the most of his birdie chances.

“I was finding an acorn every now and then,” he said. “That’s kind of my game anyway . . . sneaking up on them.”

Tiger Woods, who sneaks up on no one, opened with a 68 that could have been much lower if some of his putts had fallen into the hole instead of just tickling the edges.

Woods begins the second round in a group with six others--Tom Kite, Loren Roberts, Scott Verplank, Mark Wiebe, Jerry Kelly and P.H. Horgan III.

The last threesome of the day didn’t finish because of darkness.

The biggest problem Woods had to solve was the wind. He kept throwing grass into the air to check the wind direction and kept getting more confused.

“One time it comes straight across and the next time it’s right in your face,” he said. “You could feel the wind direction change as it hit your body. That makes it hard to pull the trigger.”

Maybe, but plenty managed to blast Valencia. There were 57 players in the field of 144 who shot par or better. Fred Couples and Justin Leonard were at one-under 70. Defending champion Nick Faldo was at 73.

Opening day belonged to Mayfair, the guy with the new and improved attitude. Maybe he even has the golf game to match. Hoch hopes so.

“Sure, he’s had a tough time,” Hoch said. “It’s great to see him play well again. It’s great, but it’s still the first round.”

What happens next is anybody’s guess. It depends on how you look at it. For optimists like Mayfair, there’s plenty of time for more fun.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE LEADERS

Scores and relation to par Thursday after the first round of the $2.1-million Nissan Open, played on the 6,697-yard, par 35-36-71 Valencia Country Club course (Play suspended with four players remaining on the course):

Billy Mayfair: 32-33--65 -6

Stephen Ames: 33-33--66 -5

Mike Standly: 33-34--67 -4

Phil Mickelson: 33-34--67 -4

Scott Hoch: 33-34--67 -4

Shigeki Maruyama: 34-33--67 -4

Keiichiro Fukabori: 33-34--67 -4

Mark Wiebe: 34-34--68 -3

Scott Verplank: 36-32--68 -3

Tiger Woods: 31-37--68 -3

P.H. Horgan III: 31-37--68 -3

Loren Roberts: 33-35--68 -3

Tom Kite: 35-33--68 -3

Jerry Kelly: 34-34--68 -3