Barry Lane, a member of Europe’s 1993 Ryder Cup team, carded a five under par round of 66 to share the first round lead at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, the second Senior Major of the 2018 season.
The Englishman, a six-time winner on the Staysure Tour, adding to five victories on the European Tour, made the turn at Harbor Shores Golf Club four under par, and made two further gains on the back nine after a bogey on the first hole – his tenth.
He shares the lead with Australia’s Peter Lonard – who finished third at last year’s Senior Open Presented by Rolex – Senior Major champion Scott McCarron, Tim Petrovic, Wes Short Jr., and PGA Club Professional Stuart Smith.
"“I've been playing really well for a while, really," said Lane. "I played really well but I was a bit too aggressive, so I was hitting balls by the flag and bouncing them into the bank with wedges, so I was a bit disappointed.
"We've had two weeks out here and I practiced really hard every day on the putting and wasn't really much better until yesterday afternoon when my wife Camilla said, 'it looks like you're strangling a snake', so I'm just gripping it a little bit lighter. And it just freed me up.
Chris Williams, runner up on the 2017 Staysure Tour Order of Merit, kept pace with Smith, who set the early clubhouse target, with a four under par first round – his lowest in seven appearances at the Senior PGA Championship.
"I was very nervous when I was teeing off there," said Williams. "But I hit my second to six inches and it was just the best start I ever had and I just started to relax a little bit for about four holes and my game started coming through and I played steady golf all day. No mistakes, I wasn't in any trouble; I think I only missed one or two greens only and no fairways, so I was really solid today"
Fellow former Order of Merit runner-up Magnus P Atlevi, who finished second to Paul Broadhurst on the money list in 2016, recovered from a three over par start after six holes to finish his round three under par.
The Swede, a former Staysure Tour Rookie of the Year, shares ninth place with 14 other golfers.
"I'm very happy, his could have been anything," said Atlevi. "It could have been a couple of more easily, but I'm very happy. I had a bad start, great in the middle, and then messed it up a little at the end."
Simon Brown, Stephen Dodd, Colin Montgomerie, Jarmo Sandelin and Vijay Singh carded first rounds of 69, two under par.