Allianz Championship: Round 1 Notebook

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Gary Player shot a 33 on the front side at Broken Sound on Friday.

• First round co-leader Jerry Pate finds himself in the same position he was in after last year's opening round at this event -- tied for first. Last year, Pate shared the lead with Mark McNulty at 6-under-par 66. Pate was the 36-hole leader by one stroke over Scott Hoch before closing with a 73 to finish T9. He and Bernhard Langer opened Friday's round with 8-under-par 64s.

• Pate's 8-under-par 64 matched his career low on the Champions Tour. His previous 64 came in the opening round of the 2004 Commerce Bank Long Island Classic. It was also one shy of his career low on the PGA TOUR which he recorded at the 1976 Canadian Open (final round).

• Bernhard Langer continues his stellar play. After winning the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Langer got out of the box quickly in his hometown on Friday, fashioning an 8-under-par 64 to share the lead with Jerry Pate. Will Friday's 64 be an omen for Langer? He opened the Hawaii event with an 8-under-par 64 as well.

• Monday qualifier Fulton Allem showed little rust from a four-month tournament hiatus. Allem open qualified on Monday and shot a 6-under-par 66 on Friday and is currently third overall. His last competitive event was the AT&T Championship in San Antonio last October.

• Gary Player matched his age for the 13th time on Friday the 13th when he shot a 1-over-par 73. The 73-year-old Player has also matched his age 12 times in his career. Player had bettered his age in all three rounds in Hawaii.

• Jeff Sluman, who came into this event with a streak of 28 rounds par or better dating back to last year, increased that to 29 with a 2-under-par 70. The all-time Champions Tour record is 37 by Loren Roberts in 2006-2007. Larry Nelson is second with 32 in 2000.

• Russ Cochran's Champions Tour debut was a successful one. He opened with a 5-under-par 67 and is currently T4. The long-time PGA TOUR player is playing on a sponsor's exemption.

• For the second consecutive event, the defending champion is not in the field after Scott Hoch withdrew earlier in the week due to a hand injury. Fred Funk did not defend in Hawaii earlier this year due to a knee injury.

• The field scoring average was 71.570 on Friday and 42 players in the field of 79 bettered par. There were 20 rounds in the 60s. A year ago, the field averaged 71.756 in Round One.

• John Harris was the lone player in the field without a bogey on his card on Friday.

• Andy Bean's 3-under-par 69 gave him eight consecutive rounds in the 60s dating back to last year. Bean posted four straight rounds in the 60s in winning the Charles Schwab Cup Championship and fired rounds of 67-66-66 on his way to a second-place finish at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. His 69 also gave him 15 straight rounds of par or better and 11 consecutive sub-par rounds, both dating back to 2008.