IRVING, Texas, May 12 (UPI) -- Stuart Appleby shot a 7-under 63 Thursday to take a one-shot lead over a star-studded field at the Byron Nelson Championship.
The top five ranked players in the world are competing here this week and No. 3 Ernie Els was the best of that group, sharing second place at 64 with John Daly and Brett Wetterich.
Daly was tied for the lead before suffering a bogey at the par-4 18th of the Cottonwood Valley course -- one of two used for the tournament.
Steve Lowery, Ted Purdy and Omar Uresti were all at 65.
Vijay Singh, second in the world behind Tiger Woods, shot a 68 while Woods and No. 4 Phil Mickelson both had a 69.
Els, Singh, Woods and Mickelson have all won this tournament while Retief Goosen, ranked fifth in the world, is playing in it for the first time. Goosen shot a 70.
Appleby, who turned in his score at the TPC-Las Colinas course, won the season-opening Mercedes Championship in Hawaii and has not finished in the top 10 of a tour event since.
