DULUTH, Ga. — Bob Tway bogeyed two of the last three holes for a 7-under 65 and the first-round lead Friday in the PGA Tour Champions’ Mitsubishi Electric Classic.
Tway birdied the par-5 sixth — his 15th — to reach 9 under, then dropped shots on the par-4 seventh and ninth at TPC Sugarloaf.
"It’s just disappointing because I actually hit two nice shots on 7 and 9 and three-putted both of them from really not very far away," Tway said. "Seven, I rolled it past and missed it coming back, and the last hole, I left it short and missed it. I played very well, you just don’t like to finish that way."
David Frost was second after a bogey-free 66.
"I drove it really well." Frost said. "I picked up a little tip from Sergio (Garcia) watching the Masters on Sunday. I liked his posture addressing the ball, and I tried a bit of that on the driving range this week and it really helped me a lot. That was my key to the round."
Tway holed out for eagle from the fairway on the par-4 12th and played the opening nine in 6-under 30.
"You shoot 30, you did a lot of good things," Tway said. "And I didn’t really do much bad on the other side, I just didn’t score as well."
Tway holed out from 137 yards on 12.
"I hit a hard pitching wedge and hit past the hole and trickled back down to the hole, so it was nice," Tway said.
The 57-year-old Tway is winless on the 50-and-over tour after winning eight times on the PGA Tour. He won the Georgia-Pacific Atlanta Golf Classic in 1986, the year he took the PGA Championship.
Larry Mize, the only one of the six players from the Masters in the Mitsubishi field to make the cut at Augusta National, was two strokes back at 67 along with Bernhard Langer, Stephen Ames, Kevin Sutherland, Mike Goodes and Jeff Maggert.
"Last week was a fun great week, but it’s grueling and tough," Mize said. "This is, it’s not like this golf course is easy, but it’s easier than last week. It’s fun to come here and play."
Langer has shot par or better in a record 36 straight rounds on the PGA Tour Champions. He won the inaugural tournament in 2013 and was second each of the next two years.
Defending champion Woody Austin opened with a 69.
Miguel Angel Jimenez and fellow Spanish star Jose Maria Olazabal also shot 69. Jimenez won in 2014 at TPC Sugarloaf and is coming off a victory in the Mississippi Golf Resort Classic.
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