SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Defending champion Jay Don Blake birdied three of the final four holes for a 6-under 64 and the first-round lead Thursday in the Champions Tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
The winner last year at TPC Harding Park 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. 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.
