Blake leads Champions Tour finale
Defending champion Jay Don Blake birdied three of the final four holes for a 6-under 64 and the first-round lead on Thursday in the Champions Tour's season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
The winner last year in San Francisco, the 54-year-old Blake had a one-stroke lead over Gary Hallberg.
Fred Couples, Jay Haas, Olin Browne and Bill Glasson shot 66 on Desert Mountain's Cochise Course in Scottsdale, Arizona. Couples is playing for the first time since a back injury forced him to withdraw from the Boeing Classic in August.
Schwab Cup points leader Bernhard Langer birdied the final two holes for a 69, Tom Lehman shot a 68, and Roger Chapman had a 69. Langer has a 211-point lead over Lehman and 657-point advantage over Chapman in the race for the $1 million annuity.
LEADING FIRST-ROUND SCORES
64 - Jay Don Blake
65 - Gary Hallberg
66 - Olin Browne, Bill Glasson, Jay Haas, Fred Couples
67 - Russ Cochran, Jeff Sluman - Kirk Triplett, Corey Pavin
68 - Brad Bryant, Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Lehman,
69 - Mark McNulty, Kenny Perry, Roger Chapman, Michael Allen, Bernhard Langer
70 - Chien Soon Lu, Joe Daley, David Frost
71 - Loren Roberts, Willie Wood, John Cook, Fred Funk
72 - Peter Senior
73 - Larry Mize, Mark Wiebe
75 - Dan Forsman
77 - Mike Goodes
