Australian Peter Senior shot six-under at the first round of the PGA Champions Tour event in Florida to grab a share of second place, two shots behind leader Corey Pavin.
Pavin fired an eight-under 64 on Friday, giving him a slim advantage over Senior, Fred Funk and Bernhard Langer.
Senior held a one-shot lead going into the final round last year in the event, but faded to 17th after a 77.
The 52-year-old, who is winless on the Champions Tour, came close last year with a trio of second-place finishes, including two playoff losses.
“The only goal I have this year is I want to win,” Senior said. “I probably had three or four chances to win last year, but never produced the goods coming down the stretch. It would be nice to get that out of the way.”
Pavin, winless in 34 career starts in the Champions Tour, had six birdies in a seven-hole stretch to shoot a back-nine 29 at Broken Sound Golf Club.
He won 15 times on the PGA Tour, including the 1995 US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
“I don’t usually shoot a lot of low scores, so it’s kind of strange,” Pavin said. “When I get in those situations, I really try to focus without thinking of too much of what I’m doing. When you start thinking about how many birdies you’re making, you tend to mess up.”
He had two second-place finishes last season.
“I think it’s harder to win out here than on the PGA Tour, because almost all of these guys have won lots of tournaments and they know how to win,” Pavin said.
Funk made his first start on the 50-and-over tour since July. He had a pair of thumb operations, eventually having a tendon in his left thumb fused last November. He had to grip a club in the operating room so the surgeon could make sure the thumb was fused in the proper position.
“That was a big ordeal,” Funk said. “I’m just happy to have a career again.”
Mark Calcavecchia, riding a streak of 11 top-10 finishes, was a stroke back along with Chip Beck, Mark Brooks and John Huston. Joey Sindelar was at 68 along with Jay Haas, Bill Glasson, David Frost, Brad Faxon and Mike Goodes.
