Langer, Jiménez, Allan, Gay Highlight Crowded Leaderboard After Round 1 at the Senior PGA Championship

Ageless Bernhard Langer shot a 6-under 66 Thursday to share the first-round lead in the Senior PGA Championship at The Concession Golf Club, alongside Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Steve Allan and Brian Gay.

Ageless seems to be one of the best ways to describe the 68-year-old Langer’s longevity in golf. The 66 was the 43rd time – and fourth round in a row – where he has shot his age or below.

Imagine that.

LEADERBOARD: Check out the full leaderboard through Round 1 here

“It’s fun to shoot my age,” Langer said. “Whenever I shoot my age or better, usually I've played some good golf. That's one of the goals these days, especially when you play a difficult golf course, and these greens here are very difficult.”

Langer made his 66 look easy, overcoming a double bogey on the par-3 seventh hole with an eagle on the par-5 17th. He added seven birdies against an eagle.

“My round was really good, except for the double bogey, which was a bad break,” he said. “I played really well. Drove it phenomenal for me. Very straight. Hit a lot of greens in regulation and made a couple of putts. Pretty happy with 66.”

Langer has been the dominant player on the PGA TOUR Champions since turning 50. But he has won the Senior PGA Championship only once (in 2017) among his record 12 Senior major titles, though he has a runner-up and three third-place finishes.

Langer leads the PGA TOUR Champions with 47 wins and has been the leading money winner 11 times. He is still going strong and breaking records.

“I don't have much trouble with coming out here and giving my best. It just comes natural to me. Motivating myself is not an issue.”

No player in the field got off to a hotter start than Jiménez. He shot 5-under on the front nine and appeared to be on his way to a low round. A bogey after a lost ball on No. 13 slowed his momentum and left him sharing the lead.

“I’ve been playing on the first nine very solid with chances for birdie almost every hole, apart from hole number six,” Jiménez said.

He made up for that with an eagle on the par-5 seventh hole. “I hit a beautiful driver, but it was past the bank that always block you. I hit it with my 5-wood. I had 230 meters to the hole. A little wind to the east. Perfect for the 5-wood. Just on the front of the green and leave me like a 5-meter putt, and I hole the putt for eagle.”

Not many golf fans were expecting Allan to be holding a share of the first-round lead of the Senior PGA Championship.

Allan was among them.

“My preparation was a little shaky,” he said after a 66. “I wasn't really hitting it particularly good in the lead-up, so I didn't have very high expectations today, but it was just a matter of going out there and just trying to see what happened. It was a nice morning, got off to a good start, and just kept it rolling.”

It wasn’t just the six birdies that left him smiling. It was the zero bogeys.

“It’s good any time you can do that, especially on a place like this,” Allan said. “Sometimes I find when that happens, I'm thinking about it too much with a couple holes to go. I just don't want to give one up, but today I wasn't really thinking about it. Luckily, didn't give one up.”

Last off, on top.

Brian Gay was in the last tee time during Thursday’s first round of the Senior PGA Championship. He didn’t tee off until 2:47 p.m. on The Concession Golf Club.

The late start didn’t bother Gay, who made three consecutive birdies twice in his round for a 66 to grab a share of the lead. He tapped in for par as the sun was disappearing along the horizon.

“It’s just a long day,” Gay said. “I’m not an early-morning guy, so I don’t mind sleeping in. But it was getting hard to run those greens on the last two holes because the sun was going down.”

Goosen, Crane and Sriroj all one-stroke off the lead

Retief Goosen’s first title on the PGA TOUR Champions was a major, the 2019 Senior Players Championship, but he hasn’t won a major since.

The South African could end that 81-month winless major drought this weekend if he continues to play well in the Senior PGA Championship at The Concession Golf Club.

Goosen shot a 5-under 67 Thursday, overcoming a slow start, to sit one behind the leaders.

Goosen bogeyed the first hole and made two nifty par saves at the next two before he hit his stride. He birdied three of his next four holes and added three birdies on the back nine for his 67. Goosen made three birdies each on the par-3s and par-5s.

“If you birdie three out of the four par-3s on any golf course, you gain some ground on the field,” he said.

Goosen won a pair of U.S. Opens and would like to see his Senior total reach that number this week. He still gears up for the majors.

“The winner of this event gets into the PGA [Championship], correct?” Goosen said. “Something to play for that. You play against the same guys you beat 20, 30 years ago. You know they are all gunning for it, and you're going to have to really play well.”

There’s always an out-of-nowhere player who reaches the first page of the leaderboard. This year it’s Thammanoon Sriroj, a 53-year-old Thai who finds himself tied with Goosen.

Sriroj birdied two of his last three holes to cap a memorable day. Sriroj has five Asian Tour wins and was one of the first 10 golfers to reach $1 million in Asian Tour career earnings. He has five brothers who are professional golfers and is a cousin of Asian Tour golfer Chawalit Plaphol, who he teamed with to represent Thailand in the 2000 EGC-World Cup.

“I was just hoping to make the cut,” Sriroj said through an interpreter. I didn’t expect to make it this far.”

Playing in just his fourth tournament as a 50-year-old, Ben Crane birdied five of his first 10 holes and held on for a 5-under 67.

Crane won five PGA TOUR events and earned $21.7 million during his 454 career starts. He turned 50 on March 6.

Crane’s best finish in 27 majors was a T9 in the 2004 PGA Championship, but he has a chance to improve on that showing this weekend.

“People used to always ask me, ‘What’s my favorite tournament? The Masters?” And I would say, ‘no, it’s the PGA Championship.

“Why? They play on some of the best courses. The field is always one of the best. And they set it up the fairest. The Senior PGA is my new favorite tournament.”

José María Olazábal Putts Way to Strong Start

You don’t win a pair of Masters without a powerful putter. José María Olazábal flashed that skill Thursday with a 68 that might have been a 78 without his magical flat stick.

“I putted extremely well today,” Olazábal said. “On the first 12 holes I think I made all the putts that I had a chance. I would put it more down to good putting today than anything else. My game, it's not sharp, it's not good, but I managed my way around the golf course today.”

The 60-year-old Spaniard has yet to win on the PGA TOUR Champions or post a top-10 finish in 20 majors on the senior circuit.