Seven Major Championship Winners in Top 10
There are seven major championship winners among the top-10 on the leaderboard after the first round of the 2007 Administaff Small Business Classic.
Bernhard Langer’s 10-under 62 today is a new Augusta Pines course record, eclipsing the 9-under 63 posted by Jay Haas in Round 2 of last year’s event. Langer’s score today was also the fifth 62 shot on the Champions Tour this year (Hale Irwin, R.W. Eaks, Tom Purtzer, Eduardo Romero), the lowest 18-hole score of the season.
Bernhard Langer’s 6-under 30 on the front nine matched the low 9-hole score at this event. Doug Tewell (front 9, Rd. 3, 2004), Morris Hatalsky (back 9, Rd. 1, 2005) and Jay Haas (back 9, Rd. 2, 2006) also shot 30s for nine holes.
Bernhard Langer’s four-stroke lead is the largest first-round margin of the year, eclipsing Scott Hoch’s three-shot lead after Round 1 of the Regions Charity Classic in Birmingham. Langer also became the first solo leader in event history. In 2004, Wayne Levi and Walter Hall matched 8-under 64s. In 2005, Jay Haas and Morris Hatalsky both posted 7-under 65s on Friday. Last year, Haas, Tom Purtzer and Dick Mast all shot 7-under 65s in Round 1.
Texas has been pretty good to Bernhard Langer thus far in 2007 with two of his four top-10s on the PGA TOUR this season coming in the Lone Star State. Langer lost in a playoff in Fort Worth at the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial and also T9 at the Shell Houston Open.
Today marks the first time Bernhard Langer has led after the first round of a Champions Tour event. Here’s a look at his record as a first-round leader/co-leader on the PGA TOUR:
Event Finish Score Money
2001 Tour Championship T10 65-68-69-73—275 $136,666.67
1994 Honda Classic T4 67-72-73-68—280 $ 43,312.50
1989 U.S. Open T59 66-78-77-73—294 $ 4,120.00
1987 Doral-Ryder Open T22 65-72-76-73—286 $ 8,775.00
1986 Vantage Championship T31 65-70-70-- 205 $ 5,209.09
1981 World Series of Golf T6 68-69-72-72—281 $ 14,500.00
In their Champions Tour debuts today, John Cook posted a 3-under 69 (T27) while Phil Blackmar carded a 1-over 73 (T63). Both players are attempting to join Mark Wiebe (SAS Championship) in an exclusive club of players who have claimed their first Champions Tour events in their first starts on the circuit.
Thus far in 2007, a total of nine first-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win including each of the last three events on the circuit.
The stroke average for the field today was 69.896, the lowest ever for an opening-round at this event. Last year, the field averaged 71.744 on Friday and two years ago, the field average was 71.714. In 2004, the field averaged 71.090. There were 41 rounds in the 60s today versus 20 sub-70 scores on Friday last year. Today’s stroke average was the third lowest for an opening round at a full-field event on the Champions Tour in 2007 and was the lowest since the 3M Championship (69.833) in July.
Defending champion Jay Haas carded a 3-under 69, his sixth consecutive sub-par round at Augusta Pines. Haas came into this week’s event having gone his last 57 holes at Augusta Pines without making a bogey. The run ended at 59 in a row when he bogeyed the par-3 3rd hole.
Both Tom Jenkins and Craig Stadler posted 6-under 66s today and got off to good starts in their quest to earn spots in the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Sonoma, CA in two weeks. Jenkins has played in the last eight season-ending events but currently stands 31st on the money list. Stadler has played in the last four Schwab Cup Championships and is currently 32nd on the money list.
Bernhard Langer, Tom Jenkins, Jeff Sluman, Tom Wargo, Eduardo Romero, Chip Beck, Tom McKnight, Pat McDonald and Perry Arthur carded bogey-free rounds today.
Mark Weibe hit all 14 fairways today.
R.W. Eaks was disqualified after not signing his scorecard. Eaks shot a 2-over-par 74 and was experiencing knee problems throughout his round.
Just four birdies were made at the par-3 9th hole and it played to a stroke average of 3.221, the most difficult for the field. Conversely, at the par-5 2nd hole, there were 42 birdies and eight eagles made by the 78 players in the field.
Tomorrow’s second round will feature the 2nd annual “Johnny & The Rocket” event, hosted by baseball greats Johnny Bench and Roger Clemens. Clemens will play in a threesome with two-other baseball legends, Gary Carter and Rollie Fingers. They will compete in a better-ball event against basketball great Clyde Drexler, Olympic speed skating gold medalist Dan Jansen and former Houston Astro slugger Jeff Bagwell.
