Australia's Rod Pampling opened with two birdies and went on to hold a two-shot lead after the first round of the US Senior Open on Thursday in Stevens Point, Wis.
Despite making a double bogey near the end of his round, Pampling shot a 3-under-par 68 at SentryWorld. Mike Small, Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and South Africa's Retief Goosen share second place at 70.
Bob Sowards, Jeff Maggert, Jerry Kelly, David Toms, Ken Tanigawa, Germany's Bernhard Langer, Australia's Richard Green, Brazil's Adilson da Silva and South Africans Ernie Els and James Kingston are tied for fifth at 71.
Steve Stricker, who won the previous two PGA Tour Champions majors this year, is among a group of eight players tied for 15th at 72.
Pampling, 53, has won just once on the senior circuit, when he captured the 2021 Boeing Classic.
On Thursday, he started on the back nine and produced a wild round that featured seven birdies, two bogeys and the double bogey at the par-4 sixth hole.
"It was obviously a fun day," Pampling said. "I'd been playing well for the last month or so. To get here and see the course, it felt good. I drove it really well and made a lot of birdies out there. Just the one hole made a little mistake on, tried to get a little too aggressive.
"On the whole, I putted it really well, which was nice to see the balls going in. It's nice to get a good view of the greens and can pick the breaks early on."
Your leader by two at the #USSeniorOpen.@RodPampling on his 3-under 68 in the first round @SentryWorld. pic.twitter.com/63fGmj6rlz
— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) June 30, 2023
Small, the men's golf coach at the University of Illinois, is competing in his 73rd career PGA Tour Champions event while looking for his first top-five finish. He birdied his first three holes, starting on the back nine, and had six birdies and three bogeys before closing with a double bogey on the par-4 ninth hole.
"For not playing a lot of tournament golf, I held it in there," Small said. "I didn't hit many fairways today, and that caught up with me on the last hole.
"The last hole was probably the best drive I hit it all day. But that's just a weird hole when they take a par 5 and turn it into a par 4 and move the tee up. That's a weird deal. And then I left myself a bad layup. (Even so,) it was a good day."
.@SentryWorld flexed its muscles on Thursday, yielding just four rounds under par. ??@RodPampling's exquisite 3-under 68 is our @Lexus Top Performance of the Day. #LexusGolf pic.twitter.com/YGH1m47jzZ
— USGA (@USGA) June 30, 2023
Other notables in the field include Scotland's Colin Montgomerie (72), South Korea's KJ Choi (73), Fiji's Vijay Singh (74), Ireland's Padraig Harrington (74) and Mark O'Meara (74).