STEVE ELKINGTON was just a shot off the pace atop a crowded leaderboard after the first round of the Regions Tradition at Shoal Creek Golf and Country Club in Alabama on Friday (AEST).
The Regions Tradition is the first of five official majors on the Champions Tour and has attracted a suitably stellar field.
In difficult conditions with swirling winds and sodden fairways requiring lift, clean and place rules, Elkington shot a 2-under 70 to be tied on the second rung of the leaderboard along with Corey Pavin and Willie Wood.
Jay Haas, Mark Calcavecchia, Olin Browne and Chien Soon Lu shared the first-round lead at 3-under while there were nine others were within two strokes of the lead.
Australia’s only other representative in the field, Peter Senior, shot a 2-over 74.
“The winds were very tricky,” 60-year-old Haas said. “I kind of had a handle on it, I thought, on the front nine. And then by the time we got to about 13, 14, 15, I had no idea which way the wind was blowing.
“With all the trees and the valley and everything, you get a lot of swirling winds and you just have to be extra careful and think it out and then hit the shot that you’re planning to hit, which I did most of the time.”
Haas capped a run of three straight birdies with a 50-foot putt on the 12th hole to move to 5 under. He finished with six birdies and had bogeys on three holes, including two of the next four after the long putt.
Calcavecchia, who birdied three of the final nine holes and came within a whisker of a fourth and the solo lead on the eighteenth, was happy with his round despite the conditions.
“There was no roll in the fairways,” Calcavecchia said. “We had to play lift and place. The ball was just caked with mud every time you picked it up in the fairway. The wind was very tricky.”
Elkington, in the same boat as Senior in that he is still looking for his maiden Champions Tour victory, potted two birdies on the front nine but another on the 14th was offset by a disappointing bogey on the last.
Senior had an up and down round with three birdies on the front cancelled by three bogeys. Two bogeys on the back put him in black figures where he was sitting tied for 38th in the 80 man field.
TV Coverage
TV Coverage in Australia on ESPN, with the schedule showing the following live coverage: 2nd Round on Saturday 2.30am – 4.30am; 3rd Round Sunday 5am – 7am; Final Round Monday 5am – 7am.
Regions Tradition Leaderboard
Regions Tradition Leaderboard