Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain, playing in his first event on the Champions Tour, fired a 7-under-par 65 to take a three-stroke lead over defending champion Bernhard Langer, Steve Pate and Kenny Perry after one round of the Greater Gwinnett Championship at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga.
Jimenez, coming off a fourth-place finish in the Masters, started at No. 10 and carded four birdies and an eagle while playing the back nine in 6-under 30, before adding one birdie on the front side.
“What do you want me to say?” said Jimenez, who turned 50 in January. “I love it. … Time for a nice warm shower (and) a nice, fat cigar.”
Pate, from Ventura and UCLA, recorded three consecutive birdies through No. 7 while finishing on the front nine after making his only bogey of the day at No. 3 in a round of 68.
Langer, who has won 19 times on the Champions Tour, carded three birdies and an eagle, also making his only bogey on the third hole while finishing on the front nine.
Perry, looking for his sixth victory on the senior circuit, carded three of his four birdies on the front-nine of his bogey-free 68.
Fred Couples was alone in second, two strokes back, before hitting his tee shot into the water on his last hole of the day, No. 9, en route to a double-bogey 6 that left him with a 69 and in a tie for fifth with Jeff Sluman, who made bogeys on his last two holes.
