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Associated Press
Nov. 14, 2003
NAPLES, Fla. - Jeff Sluman was eager to join up with Hank Kuehne. The chance to play a team format with the Tour's longest driver was too good to pass up.
Sluman and Kuehne made the most of it Friday, shooting a 7-under-par 65 to take the lead after the first round of The Franklin Templeton Shootout.
 | | At the par-4 11th, Sluman knocked his second shot to 6 feet and Kuehne converted a birdie putt. |
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This is the 15th year for the tournament, started and hosted by Greg Norman. It's the oldest offseason event besides The Skins Game.
"I tried to get it in play and then he could turn the driver loose and then I had a much shorter iron in," Sluman said of the first-round alternate-shot format.
"Just the way Hank plays, (you see) much different areas of the golf course that really nobody on Tour is going to see," he said.
Kuehne set a record with his driving distance average of 321.4 yards, snapping John Daly's eight-year run.
"Sometimes I can hit it further than anybody else, but I can also hit a lot further off-line than anybody else sometimes," said Kuehne, who had never played with Sluman. "For the most part, I felt like I drove the ball extremely well."
"I was able to put us in the fairway on the par-5s and put us in the fairway on some of the longer par-4s. Jeff was able to hit some clubs in there that were scoring clubs on some of those holes."
Kenny Perry and Scott Hoch are one shot back. Hoch made a 90-footer for eagle on No. 6 to get their round going.
Matt Kuchar and Fred Funk, along with Brad Faxon and Scott McCarron, are tied for third at 5-under-par.
The teams will play better ball on Saturday and a scramble on Sunday. The winners split $550,000 from the $2.4 million purse.
Kuchar was a late replacement for Nick Faldo, who withdrew on Monday because of a back injury. Faxon and McCarron are the only team to win back-to-back titles in this event, in 2000 and 2001.
Sluman took advantage of Kuehne's length in particular on No. 7, a 396-yard par-4. Kuehne nearly drove the green and was so close that Sluman could use a putter - the fairways are mowed almost like putting surfaces 25 or 30 yards from the greens.
"He really cranked one up on No. 7 and got it to where I could putt it, which is obviously a pretty nice feeling," said Sluman, who put his putt within a foot.
The team made eight birdies and one bogey, with Kuehne's drive being used on six of the eight birdie holes.
The teams of Paul Azinger and Olin Browne and John Cook and Mark O'Meara are three behind. Defending champions Rocco Mediate and Lee Janzen are four shots back.
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