HIGHLAND PARK, Ill. — Kenny Perry and Mike Small shot 7-under 65s to share a one-stroke lead Thursday in the first round of the Constellation Senior Players Championship.
Bart Bryant, Glen Day and the 2015 U.S. Senior Open champion, Jeff Maggert, were one stroke back in the fourth of five majors on the PGA Tour Champions schedule.
Defending champ Scott McCarron was in a pack at 5 under, and three-time Senior Players winner Bernhard Langer and Vijay Singh were another shot back. David Toms, off a U.S. Senior Open win, shot 2 over.
Perry, 57, and Small, 52, each made eight birdies and one bogey. Perry is in contention for his fifth senior major to go with two U.S. Senior Opens (2013, 2017), a Senior Players Championship (2013) and the Regions Tradition (2014).
“I actually made some putts today,” Perry said. “I’ve had a tough year this year.”
PGA: Steve Wheatcroft shot a career-best 9-under 62 to take a one-shot lead in the John Deere Classic at Silvis, Illinois.
Wheatcroft birdied seven of the last nine holes to finish a shot ahead of Michael Kim. Johnson Wagner, Nick Taylor, Andres Romero and Joel Dahmen shot opening-round 64s. Francesco Molinari, who won the Quicken Loans National two weeks ago, was among a group of players three strokes back.
Zach Johnson shot 69 and three-time John Deere winner Steve Stricker finished at 1-under 70.
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau, the highest-ranked player in the field, withdrew because of a right shoulder injury.
LPGA: Thidapa Suwannapura of Thailand shot a 6-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead at the Marathon Classic at Sylvania, Ohio.
Suwannapura, who has three top-10 finishes in 117 career Tour events, birdied five of the final six holes, including the par-5 18th. She had her last top-10 finish in 2014 at the Kingsmill Invitational.
Her best performance this season was a tie for 18th three weeks ago in Arkansas.
Seven players, including defending champion I.K. Kim and former No. 1 Yani Tseng, were a stroke behind at 66.
EUROPEAN: Luke List of the United States equaled the course record with a 7-under-par 63 to start the Scottish Open at Gullane, Scotland.
List moved into the lead with his ninth birdie on the 15th hole and held it to finish the round ahead by one stroke.
He was followed by five players in a tie for second; Rickie Fowler, Lee Westwood, Robert Rock, Scott Fernandez of Spain and Jens Dantorp of Sweden.
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