(Reuters) - John Daly rode his cart to a respectable one-under-par 71 on a day of sizzling scoring in the opening round at the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky on Thursday.
After being denied use of a cart for the British Open, Daly decided to take a pass on playing in the major championship this week, instead teeing up in Nicholasville with the tour's bottom-feeders.
The twice major champion, who has an arthritic right knee, was granted use of a cart by the PGA Tour.
A triple-bogey at the fourth hole, where his approach shot found water, set back Daly's cause but he bounced back with an eagle at the next.
Despite his reasonable score, Daly was a distant nine strokes behind leader J.T. Poston, who plundered 11 birdies on the rain-softened Keene Trace layout in a course record-matching 62.
"It was one of those days everything clicked," said world number 154 Poston, who enjoyed a one-shot advantage over Canadian Nick Taylor.
"I've hit it good for a while now, especially my irons. I missed the cut last week but didn't feel I played bad.
"Today I was able to hit a lot of fairways, give myself a lot of chances and make some birdies."
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Ian Ransom)
