Commerce Bank Championship: First-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff EAST MEADOW, N.Y. -- Loren Roberts' 7-under 64 in Friday's first round of the Commerce Bank Championship was his low round on the Champions Tour this year.  When Loren Roberts starts strong, good finishes almost always follow. (Mike Ehrmann/WireImage)
• Loren Roberts has not started a 2007 Champions Tour event with a round over par and nine of his 13 opening rounds this year have been in the 60s. Thus far in 2007, he has eight top-10s in 12 starts, including a victory in his last appearance on the Champions Tour at the Boeing Championship at Sandestin. • Loren Roberts is four for seven on the Champions Tour when leading/co-leading after Round 1. He finished T2 at the SAS Championship, T14 at the 2006 JELD-WEN Tradition and fifth in the 2005 Senior British Open, and won the 2006 Senior British Open, the 2006 Turtle Bay Championship, the 2006 MasterCard Championship at Hualalai and the 2005 JELD-WEN Tradition. • Allen Doyle's 3-under 68 Friday was his 19th round in the 60s at this event out of 25 played and extended his streak of years with a first-round sub-70 score to nine straight. • Scotland's Sam Torrance aced the 161-yard 5th hole with a 7-iron. The ace was the first of his Champions Tour career and was the sixth hole-in-one recorded on the Champions Tour this year. Torrance made the 11th ace in the 20-year history of the event and, amazingly, there have now been seven aces made in the last five years on the Red Course. • In his quest for a third consecutive Champions Tour title, and fifth overall this year, Jay Haas started with a 4-under 67 and is T4, along with Morris Hatalsky, Brad Bryant, Des Smyth, Tom McKnight and defending champion John Harris. At the Toshiba Classic, Haas was T1 after play on Friday. At the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, he was T2 after play on Friday. At the Principal Charity Classic, he was in the lead after the opening round. When he won last week at the Bank of America Championship, he was T24 after play on Friday. • Loren Roberts, Eduardo Romero, John Harris and open qualifier Mitch Adcock all had bogey-free rounds Friday. • The 78-man field averaged 70.321 on Friday compared to 70.949 last year on Friday and 69.654 in the first round two years ago. On Friday, there were 26 players with rounds in the 60s compared to only 23 players with sub-70 scores on Friday last year and 39 sub-70 rounds on Friday two years ago. • The most difficult hole Friday was the par-4 fourth at 4.333. The 454-yard hole yielded just three birdies (Andy Bean, David Eger, Pat McDonald).
• Bruce Summerhays extended his string of consecutive events played for which he's been eligible to 164 straight. Summerhays' streak is currently the longest on the Champions Tour. Dana Quigley holds the all-time record for consecutive eligible events played with 278 straight. Mike McCullough's 177 consecutive eligible events played ranks second. • Only five of 19 Commerce Bank Championships have been won by first-round leaders/co-leaders. Thus far in 2007, five first-round leaders have gone on to win on the Champions Tour. • Players will go off both the 1st and 10th tees starting at 9:35 a.m. ET tomorrow. • Lonnie Nielsen had the longest measured drive of the day, 306 yards at the par-4 15th hole. ... Ed Dougherty and Loren Roberts hit 13 of 14 fairways (92.9%). ... Loren Roberts hit 17 of 18 greens (94.4%). ... Tom McKnight had just 25 putts. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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