It will be easy for players in this week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, to lose their concentration as they gaze upon the sun-drenched paradise kissed by the Caribbean.
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Leonard – the 1997 Open champion and 12-time PGA Tour victor but without a win since 2008 – posted six birdies in his flawless first round.
The 43-year-old former Open champion capitalised on playing before the wind and rain arrived that forced a delay lasting just over an hour, with the first round eventually suspended because of bad light.
Rod Pampling plays the tournament for just the second time having finished T63 in 2011 while Geoff Ogilvy and rookie Rhein Gibson each make their first appearance.
Baddeley, a three-time victor who lost his card, got into the Mexico event because of a top-10 finish last week in Mississippi.
Michael Thompson, D.J. Trahan, Charles Howell III and Patton Kizzire are tied at five under. Shawn Stefani finished runner-up here last year and he led the St Jude with a round to go two years ago, Robert Allenby has been beaten in a playoff at both events and Brian Gay has won both this event and the FedEx St Jude.
Stanley has $19,968 (152nd on the PGA Tour), and Gonzales has $9,020 (181st on the PGA Tour). He tied for fourth in the rain-plagued Sanderson Farms Championship.
“It’s not necessarily too tight when you think of the fairways – they’re plenty wide enough – but it seems to be that on a lot of holes you have the mangroves left, mangroves right”.
“So many decisions I’ve made over the last 25 years have been about golf, ” Leonard said.
“My game plan hasn’t changed in 21 years and it’s certainly not going to change between today and tomorrow”, Leonard said.
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Former PGA champions Keegan Bradley, whose world ranking has plunged to No. 65, was in the group at 67 that included Erik Compton, Patrick Rodgers and Graeme McDowell, who overcame a double bogey on his opening hole by making five straight birdies.
