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Thursday, June 29

CROMWELL, Conn. -- Notah Begay III took the momentum of his third PGA Tour title into the first round of the Canon Greater Hartford Open on Thursday, making birdies on the final four holes to force a four-way tie for first.

	Begay played his fifth straight round in the 60s at the TPC at River Highlands.

Begay birdied seven of his last 12 holes to reach 6-under 64 and tie Kirk Triplett, Robert Gamez and Dan Forsman.

Begay won last week's St. Jude Classic for his third PGA Tour titlein the last 10 months. On Thursday, he started his round at the 6,820-yard TPC at River Highlands course with a bogey on the back nine. But he finished the side with three birdies in four holes, parred the next five and birdied the final four.

"It's always hard to come in and play after you've won," he said. "You're on such an emotional high, and your adrenaline levels are so high for the weekend that when you come down Monday, it's like you crash."

Triplett, who won the Nissan Open for his first career title earlier this year, completed his morning round with a birdie on the par-4 ninth.

Gamez, who claimed his only two PGA Tour titles in 1990, also played in the morning. He started and finished strong, with three birdies over his first six holes and four over the final eight en route to his first sub-70 round since March.

Forsman, winless since 1992, had six birdies during his bogey-free day and is leading after the first round for the second time this season. He led at the MCI Classic before tying for third.

Eighty-three players broke par, with Mark Calcavecchia, Brad Faxon, Mark Brooks, Steve Lowery, J.L. Lewis, Bart Bryant, Doug Barron, Bobby Cochran and Jason Caron shooting 65s to stay within a stroke of the lead.

Davis Love III, Hal Sutton, John Huston and defending champion Brett Geiberger are among 20 players at 3-under 67. Love and Sutton are the highest-ranked players in the field.

Tiger Woods, David Duval and Phil Mickelson -- among others -- are taking the week off. All three are expected to play the Western Open next week in preparation for next month's British Open.

Begay hit what he called "some pretty bad shots" on the difficult 10th hole, but said the bogey served as a wake-up call.

"After that, I just said, 'Well, if you play bad, you play bad. Just don't force it,' " he said.

Begay, whose emotional season has included a week-long stay in jail for drunken driving and a teary-eyed celebration in Memphis, played well the rest of the way and caught fire over the final four holes.

"I looked at the scoreboard -- I was sitting behind my putt on the par-5 (sixth) -- I'm 2-under and I'm four back," Begay said. "And I go, 'Well, if I just birdie the last four holes, I could be in a tie for the lead.' "

Triplett had a share of the lead after finishing his bogey-free 66. He started with a pair of pars on the back nine, rolled in four birdies over the next five holes and had seven straight pars before finishing with two birdies around two pars.

"Ideal playing conditions -- cloudy, slight breeze, very comfortable temperature-wise," he said. "I guess probably playing after the U.S. Open two weeks ago, it feels easier than it probably is because of the severity there, and I think that's one of the reasons for a lot of the really low scores."

Near the top of the leaderboard over the first two rounds of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, Triplett admitted life is better since his win at Riviera.

"I probably wouldn't have said it would make that much difference before I won," Triplett said. "But I look at the pictures of me when I won, thrusting my fist up there in the air. I really reached and I see a lot of emotion there that I didn't maybe realize was there."

Gamez is looking for the emotion he felt from his last victory -- 10 years ago, when he was the tour's rookie of the year. He won in his first career start at the Tucson Open and later holed an eagle from 176 yards to defeat Greg Norman by a stroke and win the Nestle Invitational.

Lately, Gamez has not done much. He has missed four straight cuts on the PGA Tour and his best showing was a tie for 12th at the Honda Classic. His struggles have carried over to the Buy.com Tour, where he has one top-10 finish in six starts.

"I had a real poor work ethic, even when I was in college and high school," said Gamez, 31. "I've never been the type of person to stand on the range and beat balls and stand on the putting green for hours and putt. I just get bored pretty easily that way."

Forsman, whose first title came in 1985, does not care that some of the best players in the world are not here, especially since he has missed the last two cuts.

"There's a great field here," he said. "Duval, Mickelson, Tiger aren't here, but you've got to beat great players here."