SAS Championship: First-round notebook

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CARY, N.C. -- Six players share the first-round lead at 4-under-par 68, marking the third time in the last five events that the leaderboard was crowded after Round One. Last month a record-tying (first round) seven players shared the lead at the JELD-WEN Tradition, while earlier this month, five players were tied at the Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach.

Larry Mize carded a 70 in his first-ever round on the Champions Tour. (Cox/Getty Images)

• The Champions Tour's newest "rookie" Larry Mize opened with a 2-under-par 70 on Friday and is tied for 10th.

• None of the players in the 78-man field played a bogey-free round on Friday. A total of 26 players finished with rounds under par and the field averaged 72.641.

• Bob Gilder made his 118th consecutive start on the Champions Tour on Friday, a streak that began at the 2004 JELD-WEN Tradition. It is the longest current streak on Tour.

• Don Pooley, one of the six co-leaders, was the only player in the field to reach 5-under-par on Friday. Pooley made a 26-foot birdie putt at No. 17 to move into sole possession of the lead but missed a six-foot putt for par on No. 18 to drop back into a tie for the lead.

• Holes five and six proved to be the most difficult in Friday's opening round. No. 5 was the most difficult with a scoring average of 4.500 (+.500) and only Jim Albus made a birdie. No. 6 averaged 4.474 and Gene Jones had the lone birdie. There were 30 bogeys and five doubles on No. 5 and on No. 6 there were 27 bogeys, four bogeys and a triple.

• Defending champion Mark Wiebe opened with an even-par 72 and is currently tied for 27th.

• Gil Morgan made the day's lone eagle, draining a 28-foot putt on No. 17. Morgan followed his eagle with a birdie at No. 18, which helped him pick up three strokes at the finish to help him to a tie for 10th.

• Leading money winner Bernhard Langer returned to the Champions Tour for the first time since August's JELD-WEN Tradition and fired an opening-round 72. Langer most recently competed in Europe, where he tied for 58th at the Mercedes-Benz Championship on the European Tour, a week after winning the Casa Serena Open in the Czech Republic on the European Seniors Tour.

• Donnie Hammond withdrew prior to the start of Friday's round with a neck injury. He was replaced in the field by Kenny Knox.