Rookie sensation Steven Alker matches 7-under 64 with Estes in opening round of Senior PGA

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — On a day when birdies were flying around Harbor Shores in the first round of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, rookie sensation Steven Alker began by flying with an eagle.

The 50-year-old New Zealand native, who already has won twice and leads the PGA Tour Champions money list with almost $1.2 million, started his round with a 25-foot downhill eagle putt on the 539-yard, par-5 10th hole after a 240-yard approach with a 5-wood. He then finished his afternoon round with his sixth birdie of the day to shoot a seven-under 64 which was tied late in the day by 56-year-old Bob Estes of Texas.

Alker and Estes were a stroke ahead of Paul Claxton, a club professional from Georgia, and 52-year-old Canadian left-hander Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion after the first round at the Jack Nicklaus-design on Lake Michigan, the site of four previous Senior PGAs since 2012.

“I’m playing with nice freedom right now,” said Alker, who didn’t seem fazed at all playing in the afternoon with World Golf Hall of Fame members Ernie Els and Bernhard Langer, who had sub-par rounds of 67 and 68. “Little jitters on the first tee, but I’m making birdies and being aggressive which today we could be because the greens were a bit softer and the course had softened up. It was kind of up there for the taking.”

Estes took his share, recording seven birdies without a bogey, five of them after his turn on Harbor Shores’ front nine. He birdied Nos. 1, 3, 5, 6 and 9 on his march to the clubhouse.

“I love a clean card,” said Estes, whose only top-10 finish this season was a solo fourth at the Rapiscan Systems Classic which Alker won April 3. “I made some good saves on both sides.”

Like the previous four Senior PGA Championships played at Harbor Shores, this season’s second major for the 50-and-older crowd is shaping into a low scoring affair. A total of 56 golfers in the 156-player field shot rounds of one-under 70 or better on a cloudy day with temperatures in the 70s after an overnight rain softened the course. More rain and cooler temperatures are expected for Friday’s round.

The 54-year-old Claxton, one of 39 club professionals in the field from Richmond Hill, Georgia, started with birdies on his first three holes and added two more for a front-nine 32 and then added two more birdies on the back nine.

“I had a great front nine,” said Claxton, who once played on the Nationwide Tour with Alker. “I hit a lot of good shots and kept the ball in play, and I had a chip-in (at No. 7). A lot of good things happened early.”

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Weir, who has made just $131,543 this season, got some encouragement from a closing 67 at the season’s first senior major, the Regions Tradition, where he finished 40th. The good vibes continued Thursday as the 5-foot-9 Weir started with a birdie on the par-5 10th and added three more birdies on the back nine and then offset two bogeys with four birdies on the front.

“I started to find something there (at the Tradition) with my short game, particularly putting and I carried that forward today,” Weir said.

American Duffy Waldorf and Sweden’s Robert Karlsson had five-under 66s in the afternoon and there were 10 golfers at 67 led by Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez, No. 2 to Alker on the money list, South African Els, and American Chris DiMarco, who was playing at Harbor Shores for the first time but does well in golf tournaments in southwest Michigan. He won the 1988 Western Amateur as a 19-year-old Florida Gator at nearby Point O’Woods Golf & Country Club in Millburg.

“It’s hard to remember back that far … obviously I have some great memories from there,” said DiMarco whose round featured six birdies, including five in a six-hole stretch beginning at the sixth hole. “I like good undulating greens that have a lot of imagination to them.”

Defending Senior PGA champion Alex Cejka of Germany, who won last year’s title at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but missed the cut in last week’s PGA Championship, was in a group of 13 golfers at three-under 68. That group included the 64-year-old Langer, who has won 11 senior majors.

“You’ve got to drive it well,” Cejka said. “That’s what I did today. My goal is just to find a lot of fairways. If I do, I can attack the pins. It all depends on the weather the next couple days. If we have weather like this — the last couple of (times) it was here — it was low scoring.”

KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship Tour Scores

Thursday

At The GC at Harbor Shores

Benton Harbor, Mich.

Purse: $3.3 million

Yardage: 6,852; Par: 71

First Round

Steven Alker 32-32—64

Bob Estes 31-33—64

Paul Claxton 32-33—65

Mike Weir 34-31—65

Robert Karlsson 34-32—66

Duffy Waldorf 32-34—66

Woody Austin 34-33—67

Shane Bertsch 34-33—67

Chris DiMarco 34-33—67

Ernie Els 34-33—67

Joakim Haeggman 35-32—67

Mark Hensby 35-32—67

Miguel Angel Jimenez 33-34—67

Thomas Levet 36-31—67

Dicky Pride 35-32—67

Gene Sauers 35-32—67

Michael Allen 33-35—68

Stephen Ames 35-33—68

Alex Cejka 35-33—68

K.J. Choi 33-35—68

Darren Clarke 34-34—68

Stephen Dodd 34-34—68

Brian Gay 33-35—68

Padraig Harrington 35-33—68

Brandt Jobe 34-34—68

Bernhard Langer 35-33—68

Scott McCarron 34-34—68

Bob Sowards 35-33—68

Kevin Sutherland 33-35—68

Glen Day 34-35—69

Ricardo Gonzalez 36-33—69

Paul Goydos 34-35—69

Jerry Kelly 35-34—69

James Kingston 35-34—69

Colin Montgomerie 36-33—69

Rod Pampling 34-35—69

Tim Petrovic 35-34—69

Tracy Phillips 34-35—69

Gary Wolstenholme 36-33—69

Olin Browne 34-36—70

Roger Chapman 36-34—70

Clark Dennis 36-34—70

Joe Durant 37-33—70

Peter Fowler 37-33—70

Thongchai Jaidee38-32—70

Stephen Leaney 35-35—70

Billy Mayfair 37-33—70

Shaun Micheel 36-34—70

Tom Pernice 36-34—70

Mike Reid 35-35—70

John Senden36-34—70

Jeff Sluman 36-34—70

Paul Stankowski 37-33—70

Mario Tiziani 34-36—70

Kirk Triplett 37-33—70

Charlie Wi 37-33—70

Michael Campbell 37-34—71

Tim Fleming 36-35—71

Harrison Frazar 34-37—71

Larry George 38-33—71

Retief Goosen 37-34—71

Tim Herron 37-34—71

Jeff Magger t37-34—71

David McKenzie 35-36—71

Scott Parel 37-34—71

Phillip Price 35-36—71

Brett Quigley 38-33—71

Ken Tanigawa 37-34—71

Y.E. Yang 37-34—71

Billy Andrade 36-36—72

David Branshaw 36-36—72

Paul Broadhurst 38-34—72

John Daly 35-37—72

Marco Dawson 37-35—72

Niclas Fasth 34-38—72

Steve Flesch 35-37—72

Thomas Goegele 36-36—72

Richard Green 36-36—72

Jay Haas 37-35—72

Steve Jones 35-37—72

Rob Labritz 36-36—72

Tom Lehman 37-35—72

John Riegger 36-36—72

Wes Short 35-37—72

David Toms 38-34—72

Omar Uresti 38-34—72

Stuart Appleby 35-38—73

Markus Brier 37-36—73

Tom Byrum 35-38—73

Mark Calcavecchia 40-33—73

Ken Duke 37-36—73

David Frost 38-35—73

Todd Hamilton 38-35—73

Alan Morin 37-36—73

David Morland 37-36—73

Steve Pate 38-35—73

Corey Pavin 37-36—73

Chad Proehl 37-36—73

David Shacklady 36-37—73

Tommy Tolles 38-35—73

Tim Weinhart 38-35—73

Cameron Beckman 38-36—74

Mike Crowley 36-38—74

Scott Dunlap 37-37—74

Frank Esposito 36-38—74

Tom Gillis 39-35—74

Neal Lancaster 37-37—74

David McNabb 33-41—74

Rocco Mediate 39-35—74

Mark Mielke 39-35—74

Mauricio Molina 38-36—74

Del Ponchock 38-36—74

Roger Rowland 37-37—74

Micah Rudosky 37-37—74

Michael Valicenti 40-34—74

Peter Wilson 41-33—74

Rich Beem 37-38—75

Jim Carter 38-37—75

Jose Coceres 38-37—75

Rafael Gomez 37-38—75

Kent Jones 35-40—75

Jon Mansfield 40-35—75

Kelly Mitchum 38-37—75

Emanuele Canonica 40-36—76

David Duval 40-36—76

Ray Franz 37-39—76

Lee Janzen 41-35—76

Jesper Parnevik 37-39—76

Jean-Francois Remesy 41-35—76

Doug Rohrbaugh 36-40—76

Jeff Roth 36-40—76

Jeev M. Singh 39-37—76

Tim Cantwell 41-36—77

Jose Maria Olazabal 36-41—77

Jose Manuel Carriles 38-40—78

Jim Farrell 39-39—78

Jonathan Kaye 41-37—78

Kenichi Kuboya 39-39—78

Mike San Filippo 41-37—78

Mike Small 39-39—78

Chad Sorensen 37-41—78

Paul Streeter 39-39—78

Don Winter 37-41—78

Robert Allenby 40-39—79

David Bahr 42-37—79

Kevin Baker 39-40—79

Roy Biancalana 40-39—79

John Bickerton 41-38—79

Eric Chiles 34-45—79

Jim Empey 40-40—80

Mark Tucker 39-41—80

Dale Abraham 40-41—81

Walt Chapman 39-42—81

David Hutsell 41-40—81

Mike Genovese WD

Andre Stolz WD

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Rookie Steven Alker, Bob Estes share opening round lead at Senior PGA