The last time Stuart Appleby won a golf tournament, John Howard was still prime minister, Hillary Clinton was widely expected to become the next American president and Usain Bolt had not even started running the 100 metres.
Two years and five months between drinks is a relatively long drought by Appleby's high standards, so he was obviously pleased to make a decent start in the first round at the PGA Tour event here today.
"I'd have to say I'm happy with that," the eight-time US Tour winner said after a four-under-par 66 that trailed Colombian leader Camilo Villegas by one stroke at Bellerive.
"I drove the ball really well, hit some good irons and made some nice putts.
"The greens are soft and not too quick, so you can be pretty aggressive. You're going to have to shoot three-or-four-under each day to keep up with the fast cars."
Appleby made his move with five birdies in seven holes around the turn as he found his range with a series of precise iron shots, none of his putts longer than 2.5-metres.
"I got on a bit of a run," he said.
"It was nothing spectacular. I just hit some good irons and made some putts."
Appleby was equal second with Americans Steve Stricker, Kenny Perry and Tim Herron and Argentine Andres Romero, while Villegas shot 65 to lead, despite bogeying his final hole.
"I hit a lot of great shots out there, gave myself a lot of birdie putts," said Villegas, a 26-year-old from Medellin, who tied for third in Boston last week.
Appleby was the only Australian to fire up, with Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott and John Senden next in line, equal 21st on one-under 69.
Fiji's Vijay Singh, seeking his third straight victory, shot 70, as did Australian Mathew Goggin, who needs to finish probably no worse than fifth this week to advance to the 30-man Tour Championship.
Goggin, however, has not crunched the numbers, preferring just to focus on playing his best.
"If you've got to finish fourth or fifth, you might as well win," he said, displaying logic that was hard to dispute.
"I hit the ball okay but I had 33 putts and you can't have 33 putts at this level and expect to compete."
The first round started 24 hours late due to torrential rain that washed out play on Thursday, but the course dried out remarkably well.
