Scene and heard

The sun is out, the temperatures is up, and all 30 players have begun their first rounds of the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. Stewart Cink, one of a few players in the field with ties to Atlanta, is 4 under par and leads by two shots over Scott Verplank, Sean O'Hair, and Padraig Harrington.

Just completed a stroll around the front nine and saw, among other things:

Playing together, Phil Mickelson and Geoff Ogilvy both hit their opening drives well right of the first fairway, with trees blocking their path to the green. Ogilvy went low with his second shot, punching it through the fairway and short of the green; Mickelson chose the flopadopolous, and carried it over the tree in front of him, but also well short of the green. Both players chipped on, and both missed their putts for par.

The rough at East Lake is thick Bermuda grass, and anyone finding it might not be able to advance it very far. Retief Goosen, playing the 538-yard fifth hole, a downhill par-4, found that out when he pulled his tee shot left. He surveyed the lie, knew he couldn't get much club on the ball, and decided to wedge out to a favorable yardage. He hacked it back to the fairway, then hit his third shot to 2 feet, setting up a par that was hardly routine.

Brian Gay's tee shot on the par-3 sixth, possibly East Lake's signature hole with water front, right, and long, barely cleared the hazard. He chipped on, then missed his par putt. If his swing kept his golf ball dry by the slimmest of margins on the tee shot, his actions after making bogey ensured its watery demise. Gay picked the ball out of the hole, then rifled it into the lake.

Tiger Woods, who is 1 under through three holes, has his share of fans here. But an older gentleman was spotted wearing a rather crudely-made T-shirt that said "Anyone But Tiger" on both the front and back.