Four share first-round lead in Buick tournament

Harrison Frazar, Heath Slocum, Peter Lonard and Scott Verplank all have 65.
CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) -- Harrison Frazar returned from a long layoff to grab a share of the first-round lead in the Buick Championship, shooting a season-best 5-under 65 on Thursday to join Heath Slocum, Peter Lonard and Scott Verplank atop the leaderboard.
Frazar, seeking his first PGA Tour victory, hadn't played a tour round since withdrawing after the first round in Memphis last month.
The birth of his third child nine days ago and family health problems kept him to close home. In that time, he only played a few rounds with his father and some buddies.
"Haven't hardly hit more than a bucket of balls at a time, maybe total, in the five weeks," Frazar said. "Just spent a lot of time with my family, trying to get everybody squared away."
Six players a shot behind
Former U.S. Open champ Corey Pavin, Memorial winner Carl Pettersson, Darron Stiles, Camilo Villegas, Todd Fischer and Ron Whittaker opened with 66s, and former Buick Championship winners Olin Browne and Brent Geiberger were in a 12-player group at 68.
Defending champ Brad Faxon struggled with six bogeys and finished with a 4-over 74.
Frazar has made just seven cuts in 15 events this year. He has a pair of top-25 finishes, but golf has been one of the last things on his mind for months now.
His wife, Allison, was carrying twins, but one died in the womb at 12 weeks. Since then, his wife's grandmother died, his 3-year-old son had intestinal surgery and his 7-year-old son broke his arm. And the recent birth of his third son turned traumatic when the baby briefly stopped breathing and his heart rate dropped.
"The best thing I could do at the time for me is to get away from golf for an extended period of time and go home and take care of them," Frazar said. "Where most people go play golf to get away from their personal problems, I find solace in going home and getting real involved with my family."
Returned to golf
Everybody is fine now and Frazar has slowly turned his attention back to golf. He had six birdies. His only stumble was on the par-4 15th when he pulled his drive into the greenside pond. He finished with his best round at the TPC at River Highlands in six trips.
Verplank's sore shoulder sabotaged his mechanics the last few weeks. A cortisone shot and therapy has the four-time PGA Tour winner swinging better. Plus the 6,820-yard course has been a kind venue to those who aren't the biggest boomers on tour. Verplank is looking for his first win since 2001.
"The way the schedule is and the way a lot of golf courses that we're playing have changed, I've got to come to a place like this where you don't have to drive it 350 yards and hack it out of the rough up to your knees that only certain guys can do," Verplank said.
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