Four sit atop the leaderboard after the opening round of the 3M Championship
Taiwan’s Chien Soon Lu, who tied for the second position at this year’s Regions Tradition, fired a seven-under par 65, on Friday, to grab a share of the lead after the opening round of the 3M Championship.
Lu was joined in the lead by Steve Pate, Gil Morgan and Peter Senior at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minnesota.
Tom Jenkins, Joel Edwards and Mark McNulty shared the fifth position at 6-under par, while six players settled for a share of the eighth spot at 5-under par 67.
Lu got off to a confident start on the back nine of the course and recorded two birdies in a row on the first two holes that he played.
Thereafter, he parred each of the remaining holes on the back nine, prior to picking up pace on the front nine. He birdied six of the eight holes before finishing his round with a par putt.
Pate also recorded eight birdies in his round. However, the highlight of his round includes five birdies in a row starting from the third hole.
Senior, who registered nine birdies against two bogeys, said that the course is really easy to play on. Therefore, many players are expected to get into contention for the top position at the end of the competition.
Therefore, 20-under par should be the minimum target for every player if someone wants to record a victory in the tournament.
"The way the course is playing, it's going to be a traffic jam up at the top this year," Senior said. "Unless we get some real strong wind … I think it's going to be 20 under to win this week or if you're going to have a chance".
On the other hand, Morgan not only recorded a bogey-free round, in fact, he managed to score his age, 65, for the second time on the Champions Tour.
"It's great to shoot my age," said Morgan. "It could have been an exciting round. I turn 66 next month. Maybe I'll have another chance somewhere down the road".
Yet, he showed a little disappointed, as he wanted to go further low in his opening round. "I didn't have too many mistakes, I didn't miss many greens. But I had a few opportunities that kind of slipped away putting-wise," he said.
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