Janzen Is Early Leader

Lee Janzen is in an unusual situation. He’s on top of the leaderboard and the Doral-Ryder Open isn’t over.

Janzen’s 9-under-par 63 was good for the first-round lead by a stroke over Michael Bradley and two better than Curt Byrum.

This is the same Janzen who led after only three rounds in all of 1995 - the final round of the three tournaments he won.

In fact, it was almost win or no count last year for Janzen, who had only four top-10 finishes in 28 starts, and three of those were victories.

“What I’m looking for this year is more consistency,” Janzen said after he made nine birdies in 11 holes and closed with a 30 on his final nine.

Janzen, who missed a 2-1/2-foot eagle putt on his 17th hole, was just a stroke off the course record on a rare windless day when players were able to hit for the pin on the unusually soft greens.