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DULUTH, Ga. (AP) -Coming off a final-round meltdown at the Players Championship, Kenny Perry had every reason to blow up during the water-logged opening round of the AT&T Classic.
How about having to play all 18 holes in a steady rain? Or standing around for a half-hour delay when the showers really got heavy? Or arriving at his final hole, still getting pelted from above, to find a major backup that forced him to linger for another 30 minutes with nothing to do?
Through it all, Perry persevered. He shot a 6-under 66 Thursday to claim a share of the lead at soggy TPC Sugarloaf in suburban Atlanta, though no one played a more impressive round.
"I hit some good shots and made some nice saves coming in," Perry said. "The last few holes were brutal."
The other leaders - Jonathan Kaye, Ryan Palmer, Jonathan Byrd and Parker McLachlin - all teed off in the morning, before a huge weather system drenched the course. They were the lucky ones.
Byrd was likely watching from his nice, dry hotel room by the time Perry rolled in a 14-footer to save par at the treacherous ninth, his final hole.
"I don't like playing in the rain. I can't think of anybody who does," Byrd said. "It's just not a whole lot of fun."
Perry can attest to that.
His bogey-free round took some 6 1/2 hours to play, including a 31-minute delay when the rain turned so heavy that play had to be halted. When he got to his last hole, surely looking forward to calling it a day, he came upon a backlog of five groups waiting to tee off - all of them held up by an earlier ruling on Glen Day that took nearly a half-hour to sort out.
"There's five groups here?" Rich Beem asked incredulously when his threesome arrived.
"Yep, you're the fifth," replied Greg Norman, making a rare appearance on the PGA Tour at the course he drew up.
"I guess it's your fault," Beem quipped. "You're the one who designed the place."
When Perry finally got to play, he flubbed a chip off the mushy ground, slamming his club in disgust. But he rolled in the par-saving putt to close the round with a better feeling.
