Simpson chases PGA money lead in Georgia

Sea Island, GA – Webb Simpson entered this week with an opportunity to overtake Luke Donald as the PGA Tour's money leader.

On Thursday, he took a big step toward accomplishing his goal.

Simpson shot a seven-under 63 in the opening round of The McGladrey Classic to share the lead with Zack Miller.

A first-time Presidents Cup participant, Simpson is preparing for a trip to Australia next month after a sensational, yet failed bid for the FedEx Cup last month, but he has a rare opportunity by playing this week.

"It's tricky because this is my first opportunity to play overseas, and especially with the Presidents Cup ... we had 15 different scenarios of what I could do," Simpson said. "It's hard to tell. We were maybe planning on having three or four weeks off here now, but if I was going to play one, it was going to be this one."

Simpson entered last month's Tour Championship with the FedEx Cup points lead, but a 22nd-place finish pushed him to runner-up behind tournament winner Bill Haas. Nevertheless, it's been a great season for Simpson, who has two wins in his last five events.

He entered this week trailing Donald in the money race by about $69,000 and can overtake the world's top player by finishing alone in 15th or better.

"As soon as what happened at the Tour Championship happened, I kind of in the back of my head said I'm going to play one or two (tournaments)," Simpson said.

Despite how well Simpson's played over the last couple of months, this is the first time he's held the 18-hole lead on the PGA Tour.

His co-leader, Miller, is trying to end a streak of seven consecutive missed cuts between the PGA Tour and Nationwide Tour. He has only one career top-10 on the PGA Tour, a shared ninth-place finish earlier this year at Pebble Beach.

Billy Horschel, Martin Piller and Scott McCarron are tied for third at six- under 66, while major champions Angel Cabrera and Louis Oosthuizen headline a group of 10 players in sixth at minus-five.

MORE TO FOLLOW.