JERSEY CITY, New Jersey,  CMC – Stephen Ames made a solid start to The Barclays yesterday, when he shot an opening round 1-under 70 at Liberty National.

The Trinidadian finished the day 27th, five strokes off the trio of Americans Paul Goydos and Steve Marino, and Spain’s Sergio Garcia who grabbed the clubhouse lead at 5-under.
Ames, whose last outing was in the PGA Championship almost two weeks ago, seemed poised to finish 2-under but bogeyed the par-4 15th to fall back in the US$7.5 million tournament.

His start was less than impressive, as he dropped a shot on the par-3 fourth to slip to 1-over. He rebounded well, however, reeling off successive birdies on the fifth and sixth, to dive to 1-under.

Making the turn at the same score, Ames cautiously made his way through the opening holes on the back nine before he birdied the par-3 14th to move impressively to 2-under.
He was hurt by the stumble on the 481-yard, 15th, and finished in a large group at 1-under which included World No. 1 American Tiger Woods.