Bryant, Langer take Mitsubishi lead

Bryant, Langer take Mitsubishi lead


Bryant, Langer take Mitsubishi lead


Associated Press

KAUPULEHU-KONA, Hawaii — Bernhard Langer had seven birdies on the back nine on his way to an 8-under 64 and a share of the lead with Brad Bryant on Friday in the Champions Tour’s season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship.

Langer, the tour’s player and rookie of the year, was 1 over through six holes, then birdied nine of his last 12 holes in the first round.

After hitting out of the bunker and sinking a 12-foot putt to save par on the par-4 sixth, Langer turned to his caddie and said, “We’ve got to stop the bleeding.”

The two-time Masters champion is coming off a three-win season when he was the lone player to break $2 million in earnings.

Both Langer and Bryant each had a bogey and nine birdies in their rounds.

Hale Irwin, who turns 64 in June and is the second-oldest player in the winners-only field, opened with a 65 to match Jeff Sluman and Jay Haas.

R.W. Eaks, who carded a rare double eagle, was at 66, along with Tom Kite.

Bryant is coming off his first winless season in three season, but broke the $1 million mark for the third straight season with seven top-10 finishes.

After birdieing four of six holes to make the turn at 32, Bryant birdied three of four holes to start the back side. He took the outright lead by holing a curling 21-foot left-to-right putt on the par-4 16th.

Langer hit a wedge from 110 yards to set up an 8-foot birdie on 18 to tie Bryant.

Irwin is trying to become the oldest player in the tour’s 30-year history. Mike Fetchick won the 1985 Hilton Head Seniors Invitational on his 63rd birthday.

With his son Steve carrying his bag, Irwin putted just 22 times in his round. He wants to put a disappointing year behind him where he failed to finish in the top-10 for the first time in his illustrious career.

And there’s no better place than Hawaii, where Irwin has won nine official events, including the PGA Tour’s 1981 Hawaiian Open and twice at Hualalai, where he is making his 14th consecutive appearance. The 45-time Champions Tour winner won here in 2007 and 1997.

Irwin got it going by sinking a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 1 and chipped in from the fringe, about 25 feet away, on the par-3 17th.

Sluman got off a torrid start with five birdies in the first seven holes.

Conditions were ideal at the scenic layout, which features forgiving fairways and immaculate greens. With only a gentle wind, the players attacked the pins.

Hualalai is the tour’s easiest layout in the last six years with an average score below 70.

Eaks turned in the shot of the day with a double eagle on the 551-yard seventh. After blasting a drive and catching a solid roll on the downhill fairway, Eaks holed his second shot using a 5-wood from 246 yards.

The rare albatross moved him to 5 under through seven holes. There were only two double eagles last year, compared to eight aces.

The 73-year-old Gary Player eagled the par-5 seventh and beat his age by three strokes. It was the fourth time in this event that the South African star has beaten his age.

The defenseless Hualalai was a welcome start to the season for everyone except Pete Oakley, who shot himself out of the tournament after just two holes by carding a disastrous 9 on the par-4 second where he got in trouble in the dried lava. Last year, he finished a shot out of last place.

Oakley was having such a difficult time on the hole, Irwin and Player played through.

Scores with relation to par from the first round of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship, played Jan. 23 at the par-72, 7,053-yard Hualalai Resort in Kaupulehu-Kona, Hawaii:

1. Brad Bryant 64

-8 1. Bernhard Langer 64

-8 3. Hale Irwin 65

-7 3. Jeff Sluman 65

-7 3. Jay Haas 65

-7 6. R.W. Eaks 66

-6 6. Tom Kite 66

-6 8. Jerry Pate 67

-5 8. Andy Bean 67

-5 10. Mike Reid 68

-4 10. Gil Morgan 68

-4 10. Ben Crenshaw 68

-4 10. John Cook 68

-4 14. Mark James 69

-3 14. Allen Doyle 69

-3 14. Bruce Lietzke 69

-3 14. Tom Purtzer 69

-3 14. Jim Thorpe 69

-3 14. Mark McNulty 69

-3 14. Tom Watson 69

-3 14. D.A. Weibring 69

-3 22. Gary Player 70

-2 22. Andy North 70

-2 22. Bobby Wadkins 70

-2 22. Bruce Vaughan 70

-2 22. Mark Wiebe 70

-2 22. Denis Watson 70

-2 28. Curtis Strange 71

-1 28. Loren Roberts 71

-1 30. Craig Stadler 72

E 30. Lonnie Nielsen 72

E 32. Eduardo Romero 73
+ 1 33. Keith Fergus 75
+ 3 34. Pete Oakley 79
+ 7


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