Defending champ McNulty among many tied for lead at JELD-WEN Tradition

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Craig Stadler lost the lead when he double-bogeyed the 18th.

SUNRIVER, Ore. (AP) -- Mark McNulty has a simple explanation for his recent success at the JELD-WEN Tradition. He loves the Crosswater Course.

"I stand on the first tee and I just feel comfortable," the defending champion said Thursday after firing a 5-under 67 for a share of the first-round lead at the fourth of the Champions Tour's five majors. "Everybody has golf courses where you just look down there and you can't see anything. The comfort zone is the most important thing."

Craig Stadler, Gene Jones, Mark Wiebe, Tim Simpson, Jay Haas and David Eger joined McNulty at top of the leaderboard. The seven-man logjam matched the 1989 GTE North Classic for the biggest tie after 18 holes in Champions Tour history.

Taking advantage of calm and clear conditions to attack the fairways and pins, 15 players finished within a shot of the lead and 46 of the 68 players were even par or better on the Crosswater Course -- the Tour's longest at 7,533 yards.

The 54-year-old McNulty, from Zimbabwe, has three top-5 finishes this year and hasn't missed a cut. He blistered the course with a 16-under 272 last year in the event's first year at Crosswater. In five rounds, he has shot 66, 68, 68, 70 and 67.

"I played nice and steady and had a good front nine to start," McNulty said. "That's what you want when you come back to defend a title."

Wiebe played well after poor results in the Senior British Open, where he finished at 7 over, and the U.S. Senior Open, where he missed the cut. Wiebe, born in Seaside, Ore., birdied five holes on the front nine, including four in a row.

Stadler birdied five holes on the back nine and could have held the lead outright, but he double-bogeyed the 456-yard, par-4 18th.

"I looked at the turn and saw Stads was at 7 under," said Haas, who birdied five of the first 12 holes and just missed birdie putts at 15 and 17. "Then I didn't see a board again until 15 and I saw the lead was five. I thought they just hadn't updated that board yet."

Tournament host Peter Jacobsen withdrew from the field before teeing off because of a hip injury. The Portland native also has battled knee and back injuries and has withdrawn from the tournament in each of his last three years.

Divots: Former Ryder Cup player Des Smyth found out Thursday that his 24-year-old son Gregory won the Irish National Lottery, worth about $14 million. Smyth shot a 71. "It's all very surreal," Des Smyth said. "Being so far away from things, it's hard to grasp. We got a call in the hotel at 6:20 a.m. this morning. Usually when you get a call that early, it's not good but he assured us right at the start that it was good news he was about to tell us. I played today but honestly can't remember a single shot I hit. I was thinking about him all day. He'll be well advised for sure. I just hope he takes it." ... Charles Schwab Cup points leader Bernhard Langer birdied the final four holes and was among the eight players one shot off the lead at 4 under.

TRIVIA QUESTION

Gene Jones, who opened with a lead-sharing 67 on Thursday, is playing in his second major championship since joining the Champions Tour. How did he do in the other two? See answer at the bottom of the page

Notebook: Round 1 of the JELD-WEN Tradition

• A total of seven players (Gene Jones, Mark McNulty, Craig Stadler, Mark Wiebe, Tim Simpson, David Eger and Jay Haas) are tied for the opening-round lead at this year's JELD-WEN Tradition, equaling the most-ever after 18 holes in a Champions Tour event.

• In 1989, seven players were tied for the first-round lead at the GTE North Classic in Indianapolis at Broadmoor Country Club. Coincidentally, all seven players in that event (Billy Casper, Jim Dent, Dale Douglass, Mike Hill, Gene Littler, Gary Player, Walt Zembriski) also opened with 5-under 67s.

• Defending champion Mark McNulty's 5-under 67 Thursday was his fifth consecutive sub-par score at the Crosswater Club. This event marks the sixth time in his Champions Tour career that he's successfully defended a title. The closest he's come to successfully defending a title on the Champions Tour was when he finished tied for second at the TPC of Tampa Bay in the 2005 Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am.

• Jack Nicklaus won this championship in back-to-back years twice (1990-91, 1995-96) and Gil Morgan won in consecutive years in 1997-98. McNulty finished third at the recent U.S. Senior Open, one of just three players to finish under par in the championship two weeks ago at The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo.

• Mark Wiebe (-5), Tim Simpson (-5), Jay Haas (-5), Mike Goodes (-4), D.A. Weibring (-4) and Gil Morgan (-2) all played their rounds without a bogey.

• Massy Kuramoto's 4-under 68 Thursday included birdies on all four par 3s at Crosswater. Kuramoto had just 25 putts on his round and extended his streak of holes without a three-putt to 254 straight, the year's best run.

• Thursday's scoring average was 71.254, the first time a field has averaged under par at the Crosswater Club. Last year's first-round stroke average was 72.595. On Thursday, there were 21 rounds in the 60s and 36 players were under par. Last year on Thursday, a total of 10 players had rounds in the 60s and 25 players finished under par.

• The most difficult hole Thursday was No. 18 with an average of 4.194 (+.194). Last year on Thursday, the 18th hole played as the hardest at 4.380 (+.380). No. 2 was again the easiest for the first round at 4.687 (-.313). Last year, the hole averaged 4.734 (-.266) on Thursday.

• Joe Ozaki had the day's fewest putts (22), including 14 one-putts. Mark McNulty, Tim Simpson and D.A. Weibring all hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation. McNulty, Dave Eichelberger and Bobby Wadkins hit all 14 fairways off the tee Thursday. Tom Purtzer had the longest recorded drive of the day, 331 yards at the par-4 14th hole.

• The Champions Tour's Charles Schwab Cup leader, Bernhard Langer, made a great recovery to finish near the lead after the opening round. After going out in 2-over 38, Langer shot 30 on the back nine, the best nine-hole score of the day, and finished at 4-under 68. Langer's back-nine score included birdies on his last four holes.

Trivia answer

Jones finished in the top 10 in both. He was tied for ninth in the Senior PGA Championship and tied for fifth in the The Senior Open Championship.