Golf: Rested Kuchar races to Riviera lead

Matt Kuchar fired a bogey-free seven-under par 64 to seize a one-stroke lead over Spain’s Sergio Garcia.

LOS ANGELES: Matt Kuchar fired a bogey-free seven-under par 64 on Thursday to seize a one-stroke lead over Spain’s Sergio Garcia in the first round of the $6.6 million US PGA Tour Northern Trust Open.

Kuchar’s seven birdies on the par-71 Riviera Country Club lay-out included three to open his round.

“I got off to a great start,” said Kuchar, the four-time winner on the US PGA Tour. “Birdied my first three and all were kick-in birdies — I think all within probably four feet.”

Garcia, runner-up at the European Tour’s Qatar Masters last month, teed off on 10 and also opened with three birdies, while Brandt Jobe had set an early target with a five-under 66 that left him in third.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2013.