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By Dave Senko
Champions Tour Media Official

• Nick Faldo's debut as a senior golfer was a success on Thursday as he opened with a 3-under-par 68 at Muirfield to share the first-round lead with Dave Stockton, Gordon J. Brand and Nick Job. A three-time winner of the British Open, including two titles at Muirfield (1987, '92), Faldo turned 50 on July 18.

Sixty-five-year-old Dave Stockton has a share of the first-round lead. (Getty Images)

• With a share of the first-round lead, 65-year-old Dave Stockton sits atop the leaderboad after the opening round for the first time since he shared the lead at the 2004 SBC Championship in San Antonio, Texas. He eventually finished tied for fourth.

• A total of 21 different countries were represented when the 2007 Senior British Open Championship got under way on Thursday. In addition to a large contingent of players from the United States, the field also included players from the following countries -- Zimbabwe, Italy, England, Japan, South Africa, Colombia, Scotland, Jamaica, Argentina, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, The Netherlands, Chile, Spain, Sweden, Northern Ireland, Thailand, France, and Canada.

• Bruce Summerhays' streak of consecutive events for which he was eligible ended at 166 when he did not compete in the tournament. The streak is the third-longest in Champions Tour history for most consecutive eligible events played. Dana Quigley (278 ) and Mike McCullough (177) are one-two in that category. Quigley's streak came to an end at the 2005 Senior British Open Championship when a sore right hip and travel complications kept him at home. The last event Summerhays missed for which he was eligible was the 2001 AT&T Canada Senior Open Championship.

• American Jon Chaffee made a hole-in-one in Thursday's opening round when he aced the 191-yard, 13th hole with a 5-iron. By doing so, Chaffee wins a prize of 191 bottles of Hardy's wine, one for every yard of the hole. It was the ninth hole-in-one on the Champions Tour in 2007 and the third of Chaffee's career.

• Australian Wayne Grady opened with a 7-over-par 78 on Thursday on his 50th birthday. The 1990 PGA Championship winner, Grady is expected to compete in several events on the Champions Tour in the remainder of the 2007 season.

• Veteran Bob Charles matched his age for the fifth time in his career when he shot an even-par 71 on Thursday. A two-time winner of this event (1989, '93), Charles has also bettered his age six times, most recently in the final round of The Boeing Championship at Sandestin when he fired a 3-under-par 68.

• The most difficult hole on Thursday was No. 1 with an average score of 4.590 (+.590). Only nine players made birdies and 76 players made bogey or higher on the hole. Easiest hole was No. 17 at 4.806 (-.194). Overall the field averaged 74.605 well over two strokes higher than last year's first-round average (72.238) at Turnberry.

• The most difficult hole to birdie was No. 14 with only Katsuyoshi Tomori, Wayne Grady and Morris Hatalsky recording birdies.

• Defending champion Loren Roberts opened with a 3-over-par 74 on Thursday and is currently tied for 65th. Two-time winner Tom Watson shot a 1-under-par 70 and was tied for 11th.

• With intermittent showers through much of the afternoon, no player in the final 10 groupings shot a round under par and only two players -- Katsuyoshi Tomori and John Ross -- posted even-par rounds.

• A total of 22 players shot rounds under par and 36 players in the 144-man field were at par or better.

• Chip Beck shot an even-par 71 playing with a replacement set of golf clubs. Beck was still awaiting his own clubs which were lost while he was traveling to Scotland earlier in the week from Rome via Amsterdam. He had also lost a set of clubs earlier this year.