Gibson (64) Leads by One at Soggy B.C. Open

Kelly Gibson completed the soggy first round of the B.C. Open and had only one wish.

“I hope a hurricane comes tomorrow and there’s a one-round winner,” Gibson joked Thursday after an eight-under 64 at Endicott, N.Y., put him alone atop the leaderboard. “Would they do it? Why not? I’ll take the cash.”

Although showers caused a 28-minute delay on the En-Joie Golf Club course, the first round was completed with Gibson holding a one-shot lead over rookie Camilo Villegas, Todd Fischer, John Morgan and Kevin Stadler.

Brett Quigley, Garrett Willis, Brenden Pappas and Roland Thatcher were another shot back. Tommy Tolles and 1997 B.C. Open champion Gabriel Hjertstedt were among 11 players at 67, including defending champion Craig Stadler, who couldn’t match son Kevin on this day.

Heavy rains cut short Wednesday’s pro-am, and a couple of downpours early Thursday finally forced play to be stopped in late morning for course maintenance. But the changing conditions still were ideal for scoring. Tournament officials allowed players to lift, clean and place over the first two rounds.

Fred Funk, who elected to play the B.C. Open instead of the British Open in an attempt to score more points in his quest to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team, shot a 74. “I’m just playing pitiful,” he said.

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Will Claxton defeated top-seeded Danny Green in a record 26-hole match to advance to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur Public Links at Maple Grove, Minn.

The previous longest match in Public Links history was a 25-hole match in 1963, when Clyde E. Sniffen defeated Hung Soo Ahn.