South African Rory Sabbatini shot a five-under 66 to snap out of a form slump and earn a share of the first round lead with American Steve Marino at the BMW Championship Thursday. Sabbatini stumbled with a bogey at the first but notched five birdies in his last 12 holes to put two missed cuts at the first two PGA play-off events behind him. In-form Australian Marc Leishman and American Bo Van Pelt trail the leaders by a stroke, while Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington were among a large group two behind. “I didn't play very well my last two weeks,” Sabbatini, who won the Byron Nelson Championship in May, told reporters. “I've been hitting the ball well and just haven't been able to score and ultimately in golf it's not how you hit it, it's how you score. “These things tend to break out of their cycles and it was nice to get out today and actually have a nice fun, relaxing round.” Sabbatini, currently 35th in the playoff standings, needs a solid finish here to be among the 30 players to advance to the Tour Championship finale, where a $10 million bonus awaits the play-off points champion. At 26th in the standings, co-leader Marino is also not assured of qualifying, but after a slow start gave himself every chance by compiling five birdies in the final 11 holes. “I'm trying to treat this like any other tournament, because if you start number crunching in your mind, that's probably not going to be a very good thing,” he said. Woods, second in the points standings, is guaranteed a place in the finale, and was pleased with his four-birdie one-bogey round. “I hit the ball well,” the world No. 1 said. “I think anything under par is a really good score.” Harrington, who failed to close out winning positions at the first two playoff tournaments, said he was lucky to escape with a bogey-free round. “In terms of scoring it was steady but it was far from steady on the course,” he said after his three-birdie 68. “It was a bit erratic at times out there. “I struggled to focus, so it needs to be better over the next three days. I won't get away with what I got away with today.”
