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New York - American John Mallinger produced a sizzling burst of six consecutive birdies to charge into a six-way tie for the lead in the Viking Classic first round in Madison County, Mississippi on Thursday.
In pursuit of his maiden victory on the PGA Tour, the 31-year-old Californian took advantage of rain-softened conditions and preferred lies on the fairways to card a seven-under-par 65 at Annandale Golf Club.
Mallinger launched his birdie run at the par-four ninth before ending the round level with compatriots Tim Petrovic and Bobby Gates, Zimbabwe's Brendon de Jonge, Australian Peter Lonard and South Korean Kang Sung-hoon.
PGA Tour veteran Kenny Perry and Argentina's Fabian Gomez were among nine players who opened with 66s on a stifling hot mid-summer's day in Mississippi.
"It was just a good stretch of holes," Mallinger told reporters of his birdie barrage around the turn. "I made a lot of putts today. Nine birdies and a couple of bogeys. I played solid.
"It's always good to get off to a good start. I've been playing well, I just haven't been scoring that well."
Mallinger, whose best PGA Tour finish was a runner-up spot at the 2009 Milwaukee Championship, relished being able to lift, clean and replace his ball on fairways left muddy by overnight rain.
"You get the ball in your hand, and it's a little bit easier," he said. "You can be a little more aggressive at the flag. We're getting a lot of mud on the balls."
De Jonge, who tied for third in last year's Viking Classic, recorded seven birdies in a flawless display after being grouped with Americans Reavie and Tommy Gainey for the first two rounds.
"The whole group played well," said de Jonge, who shared seventh place at last week's John Deere Classic. "We definitely helped each other. We made a bunch of birdies in the group, and that kept the momentum going.
"I played nicely today. I kept it in play most of the day and gave myself a lot of birdie looks. It's rained just about every day so the course is going to be soft and the scoring is going to be good."
Gainey, at 42nd, is the highest-ranked player on the 2011 PGA Tour's money list at Annandale and he fired an opening 67.
Double U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen also returned a 67 while Australian Steve Elkington, winner of the 1995 PGA Championship, carded a 70.
With most of the game's leading players in England for this week's British Open at Royal St. George's, the field at the Viking Classic is relatively weak.
Leading first-round scores on Thursday in the $3.6m USPGA Tour Viking Classic (USA unless noted):
65 - Tim Petrovic, John Mallinger, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM), Peter Lonard (AUS), Kang Sunghoon (KOR), Bobby Gates
66 - Michael Connell, Hunter Haas, Chez Reavie, Tom Pernice, Troy Matteson, Kenny Perry, Bill Lunde, Fabian Gomez (ARG), Kim Bi-o (KOR)
67 - Tag Ridings, Kirk Triplett, Tom Byrum, Stephen Ames (CAN), Tommy Gainey, Rod Pampling (AUS), Billy Mayfair, Lee Janzen, Richard S. Johnson (SWE), Josh Teater, Chris Kirk, Frank Lickliter, George McNeill, Scott Piercy, Matt Weibring
...
69 - John Senden (AUS), Jarrod Lyle (AUS)
70 - Steve Elkington (AUS), Grant Waite (NZL), Mark Hensby (AUS), Andre Stolz (AUS), Steven Bowditch (AUS), Stuart Deane (AUS)
71 - Ryuji Imada (JPN), Alexandre Rocha (BRA), Aron Price (AUS)
72 - Matt McQuillan (CAN), David Hearn (CAN)
74 - Carlos Franco (PAR), Chris Baryla (CAN)
75 - Fulton Allem (RSA)
76 - Phil Tataurangi (NZL)
