R.W. Eaks, who has never won a PGA event of any kind, shot a 7-under-par 64 Thursday to tie the U.S. Senior Open record and take a three-shot lead over Tom Watson after the opening round at Owings Mills, Md.
Eaks had an eagle, eight birdies and three bogeys on a difficult Caves Valley course that yielded only nine sub-par rounds on a sweltering day.
Play was suspended for the day by lightning with 33 players left on the course.
Watson shot a bogey-free 67, one shot better than James Mason and Jose Maria Canizares. Isao Aoki, Fred Gibson and Jim Ahern carded 69s.
– Glen Hnatiuk and Tim Petrovic shot 6-under 65s at Memphis and took a one-stroke lead over a tightly-bunched leaderboard in the suspended first round of the St. Jude Classic.
Afternoon thunderstorms delayed play for more than three hours and darkness stopped play with 78 players still on the TPC at Southwind course.
Hnatiuk had seven birdies and one bogey, while Petrovic, who played on the Buy.Com Tour last year, turned in a bogey-free, six-birdie round that was his best yet on the PGA Tour.
– Fred Funk shot a 5-under 66 and shared the first-round lead at the Irish Open in Cork with Nick Dougherty, Joakim Haeggman, Eduardo Romero and Peter O’Malley.
– Illinois freshman Mike O’Neal of Geneva captured the CDGA Amateur with a routine par on the 18th hole at Wynstone Golf Club in Barrington.
O’Neal defeated Chicago’s Mike Radek, of Medinah Country Club, 1 up in the final match.
– Ivanhoe Club pro Jim Sobb shot a 1-under 35 at Kemper Lakes to beat Medinah’s Mike Harrigan by a shot and claim the Illinois PGA’s last berth into next week’s Advil Western Open.
