Tough track?

Valencia Country Club has ranked as the toughest course on the Champions Tour (excluding majors) in three of the past five years, featuring a scoring average of 73.662 strokes last season and 74.260 in 2005. It also was the toughest non-major course on tour in 2002, when the average score was 75.167.

In Friday's opening round, with the temperatures reaching the low 90s, the field bettered par, averaging 71.227 strokes on the par-72 layout. That was the lowest total since the tournament moved to Valencia CC in 2001, nearly a stroke better than the previous best (72.078 during the second round in 2004). It also was more than two strokes lower than the opening round in 2006 (73.615).

Of the 75 players in the field, 23 shot rounds in the 60s and 46 broke par.

"We had ideal scoring conditions today. The weather was not the story it was last year," said first-round leader Hale Irwin, referring to the chilling tempuratures in the 40s the players faced in 2006. "All the reasons why you should score (well) were there."