Rollins grabs McGladrey lead

Sea Island - American John Rollins made four birdies in a row down the stretch on his way to firing a seven-under par 63 and taking the first round lead at the $4 million PGA Tour's McGladrey Classic.

Rollins, who made three birdies on the front nine, began his birdie binge at the 14th, followed on the par-5 15th, added another at 16 and birdied the par-3 17th before a par closed his bogey-free round.

Fellow Americans David Toms, the 2001 PGA Championship winner, and Troy Merritt were one stroke off the pace with US players Joe Durant, Rich Barcelo and Michael Letzig on 65.

Rollins, ranked 72 on the money list, seeks his fourth career PGA crown, having won the 2002 Canadian Open, the 2006 B.C. Open and last year's Reno-Tahoe Open.

His best finish this year was a share of third at Greensboro in August.

The event is among five final PGA events after the Tour Championship aimed at players who are fighting to keep their tour playing status for 2011 by finishing in the top 125 on this year's money list.

Merritt, last year's qualifying tournament winner, knows that situation all too well at 123rd on the money list with $669 073. He seeks his first PGA title or a big payday, either of which should secure his spot for 2011.

Merritt had three sets of back-to-back birdies but a bogey at 18, his ninth hole of the day, kept him from making Rollins atop the leaderboard.

Scores on Thursday after the first round of the McGladrey Classic (USA unless noted):

63 - John Rollins

64 - Troy Merritt, David Toms

65 - Michael Letzig, Joe Durant, Rich Barcelo

66 - Justin Leonard, Mathias Gronberg (SWE), Aron Price (AUS), Heath Slocum

67 - Steve Marino, Jeev Milkha Singh (IND), Bill Haas, Dean Wilson, Brett Quigley, Todd Hamilton, Jeff Maggert, Jeff Quinney, Matt Kuchar, Paul Stankowski, Charlie Wi (KOR), Chris Stroud, Brian Stuard

Notable others:

68 - Richard S. Johnson (SWE), Daniel Chopra (SWE), Robert Allenby (AUS), Graham DeLaet (CAN), James Nitties (AUS)

69 - Mathew Goggin (AUS), Rod Pampling (AUS), John Senden (AUS), Trevor Immelman (RSA), Cameron Percy

70 - Carl Pettersson (SWE), Henrik Bjornstad (NOR), Andrew McLardy (RSA), Jarrod Lyle (AUS), Marc Leishman (AUS), Arjun Atwal (IND), Aaron Baddeley (AUS)

71 - Matt Jones (AUS), Brendon de Jonge (ZIM), David Lutterus (AUS)

72 - Brenden Pappas (RSA), Greg Owen (GBR), Nathan Green (AUS), Henrik Stenson (SWE), Frederik Jacobson (SWE)

73 - Alex Cejka (GER)

74 - Brian Davis (GBR)

77 - Ryuji Imada (JPN)