Wadkins has 62 at new Champions Tour stop
DESTIN, Fla. (AP) – Bobby Wadkins set a course record on the newest Champions Tour venue Friday, shooting a 9-under 62 to grab the first-round lead in the $1.6 million Boeing Championship. Wadkins, who managed a second place tie earlier this year at Newport Beach, Calif., is trying to snap a five-year winless drought on the Champions Tour.
He needed just 23 putts to get around the Raven Golf Club’s 6,931-yard layout at Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort on a day when only 20 of 78 players broke par.
The 54-year-old Virginian had nine birdies in a bogey-free round to finish within a shot off his career best score. He birdied four of the first five holes on the backside and stood 8-under with four holes left before his final birdie at No. 17.
Wadkins, whose last Champions Tour win came in 2001 in New York, led Curtis Strange and Don Pooley by four shots to match the tour’s biggest lead after 18 holes since Tom Purtzer’s 60 at Newport Beach, Calif., in 2004.
Mike McCullough and Mitch Adcock were five back in the 54-hole event with opening 67s, followed by Ray Floyd’s 68. Six players were bunched at 69, including the tour’s leading money winner this season, Loren Roberts.
Adcock and Strange, who are both looking for their first Champions Tour victory, were among the early starters along with Wadkins who were greeted with near perfect weather. They finished their rounds before the afternoon winds picked up, driving later scores down on the par-71 course.
Defending champion Jim Thorpe, who won this tournament in a playoff last year on another Panhandle course, trailed Wadkins by 13 shots after a first round 75.
Tim Simpson, a four-time winner on the PGA tour who never won a tour event after being diagnosed with Lyme disease in 1991, finished with a four-over 75 in his Champions debut.
Tom Watson and Lee Trevino, two of the big names in the field, were among several players who finished at a 1-over 72. The two 70-year-olds in the tournament, Gary Player and Chi Chi Rodriguez, shot 79 and 80 respectively.
Howard Twitty got into the field before Friday’s start after Mark Lye withdrew with a foot injury. John Mahaffey also pulled out after three holes with a bad back.