Round 1 Notebook: Allianz Championship

text size

Weather: Cloudy, breezy and cool with highs ranging from the low-to-mid 70s in the morning to the low 60s in the afternoon. Winds were from the NW at 5-10 mph with some gusts to 15-20 mph during the day. The course received six-tenths of an inch of rain on Thursday afternoon.

• Current Leaderboard: 1 -- Jay Don Blake (64/-8); 2 -- Tom Lehman (65/-7); T3 -- Scott Simpson, Peter Senior, Tom Jenkins & Jeff Sluman (66/-6); T7 -- 7 Players tied at 5-under-par 67.

• Jay Don Blake is off to a quick start in his first event of the 2011 season. The St. George, Utah resident opened with an 8-under-par 64, matching his low round on the Champions Tour (64 at 2010 AT&T Championship/2nd round). Blake leads Tom Lehman by one stroke and the quartet of Scott Simpson, Peter Senior, Tom Jenkins and Jeff Sluman by two strokes.

• Blake's 8-under-par 64 was one stroke shy of the tournament record 63 set by Craig Stadler in 2007.

• Olin Browne made the third hole-in-one in tournament history when he aced No. 8. Browne used a 6-iron on the 176-yard hole. Jim Dent (No. 8/Rd. 3/2007) and Don Pooley (No. 3/Rd. 3/2009) had the others aces in the tournament. Browne also had hole-in-ones on both the Nationwide Tour and PGA TOUR and is just one of four players to do so. The others are Jim Thorpe, Chip Beck and Dave Barr.

• Jim Colbert reached a milestone on Friday when he teed it up in his 500th Champions Tour event. He becomes the ninth player to reach that lofty status. Miller Barber is the all-time Champions Tour leader with 603 starts. Colbert is a two-time Champions Tour Player of the Year and a 20-time winner on Tour. Colbert shot a 3-over-par 75 on Friday.

• A trio of players withdrew prior to the start of the opening round. Peter Jacobsen (back), D.A. Weibring (left shoulder) and Loren Roberts (back) all were forced out of the tournament due to injuries. Bobby Clampett (Jacobsen), Roger Chapman (Weibring) and Willie Wood (Roberts) replaced the trio. Ronnie Black withdrew after his round with a neck injury.

• John Cook's string of consecutive rounds in the 60s ended at 12, one shy of Hale Irwin's record of 13 in 1999. Cook fired a 1-under-par 71.

• Defending champion Bernhard Langer opened with a 4-under-par 68 and is currently T14 where he is joined by 2009 champion Mike Goodes.

• Bob Gilder played in his 170th consecutive event that he's been eligible for on Friday, the longest current streak on the Champions Tour. The last eligible event that Gilder missed was the 2004 Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn. Dana Quigley holds the all-time record in consecutive eligible events played, with 278, and Mike McCullough is second, with 177.

• Lee Rinker, who resides in nearby Jupiter, shot a 1-under-par 71 on Friday in his Champions Tour debut. He finished T2 at last fall's Champions Tour National Qualifying Tournament to earn an exemption to the Champions Tour. Frankie Minoza, another product of that tournament, also opened with a 71.

• Keith Fergus and Jay Haas extended their streaks of consecutive par/better rounds to 13 in this tournament, while Cook and Langer extended their streaks to 13 straight dating back to last year.

• Hale Irwin and Lehman hit all 18 Greens in Regulation in the opening round, while Browne, Steve Lowery, Larry Mize and Bobby Wadkins hit 13 of 14 fairways. Scott Simpson's 25 putts were the fewest in the first round.

• Willie Wood, the last man into the tournament when Loren Roberts withdrew earlier in the day, fired a 3-under-par 69 and is T22. Wood had started the week as the 21st alternate. However, he replaced Roberts when several players ahead of him on the alternate list were not on site when Roberts withdrew prior to the start of his round.

• Monday qualifier Joe Daley fired a 5-under-par 67 and is T7.