Round 1 notebook: Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am
By Dave Senko, Champions Tour staff
Weather: A mix of sun and clouds with highs ranging from the upper 60s to the low 80s. Winds were from the ENE at 10-15 mph.
• Mark O'Meara is in sole possession of first place after shooting an opening-round 6-under 65. He leads Mike Reid and Nick Price by one stroke. Tom Watson leads a contingent of six players, including 2010 Champions Tour Player of the Year Bernhard Langer, two strokes back. This marks the third time in his Champions Tour career O'Meara has held sole possession of the lead after the opening round. He also led at the 2007 AT&T Championship and the 2009 Boeing Classic. He eventually finished second in each.
• Mark O'Meara led all players in the field with the fewest putts in Round 1. He needed just 22 putts (11 on each side) on his way to his 65.
• Fred Couples fell short in his bid to tie Hale Irwin's Champions Tour record for consecutive sub-70 rounds at 13 when he shot an even 71, ending his streak at 12. It was the first time this season Couples had not posted a round in the 60s in 13 rounds. In addition, when he recorded a six at No. 12, it also ended a string of 218 holes without a score higher than five on any of his 2010 scorecards.
• Hale Irwin made his 1,000th combined (PGA TOUR/Champions Tour) career start on Friday when he teed it up at the TPC Tampa Bay. It was the 341st Champions Tour start for Irwin, the winningest player in Champions Tour history with 45 career victories.
• Just days after posting a T18 finish at the Masters, Tom Watson continued his solid play on Friday, firing a 4-under-par 67. Watson won this event in 2007
• Curtis Strange withdrew prior to the start of the event due to illness. James Mason was his replacement in the 78-player field.
• Defending champion Nick Price showed no signs of jet lag on Friday. Just four days after returning from a family vacation in Egypt, Price opened with a 5-under-par 66 and shares second place with Mike Reid, one stroke behind Mark O'Meara. Price came into the event with three straight top-10 finishes as well as nine consecutive sub-par rounds.
• Veteran Jim Dent, a Tampa resident, made his 21st appearance in this tournament, the most by any player in tournament history. Dale Douglass and Gary Player have each played in 20 tournaments.
• Tommy Armour III was the only player in the field to post a bogey-free round on Friday.
• After two-putting his first four holes, Ronnie Black proceeded to one-putt 13 of his next 14 holes. He finished with an even-par 71.
• The team of Bernhard Langer and Rolf Klam (Niceville, Fla.) lead the pro-am portion of the event at 10-under-par 61. Leonard Thompson and Jeff Finnerty trail by one stroke as do Fulton Allem and Mark Adams.
• Nos. 9 and 18 were the hardest to birdie on Friday as each yielded just two birdies, while No. 15 yielded just three. Tom Jenkins made birdies on both 15 and 18. Mark O'Meara and Nick Price birdied No. 9 and Dan Forsman joined Jenkins with a birdie at No. 18. The other birdies at No. 15 were by Jim Roy and Peter Jacobsen.
• Despite limited birdies on Nos. 9, 15 and 18, the most difficult hole was No. 8 with a scoring average of 4.346 (+.346). The easiest hole was No. 12 at 4.526. There were seven eagles and 34 birdies during the day.
• A total of 25 players in the 78-player field posted rounds below par and the field averaged 72.295 for the day. It was just a shade lower than last year's average of 72.303.
• Bob Gilder made his 150th consecutive starts for events he's been eligible for on Friday.
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