SNOQUALMIE, Wash. (AP) Rod Pampling won the Boeing Classic on Sunday for his first PGA Tour Champions victory when Jim Furyk and Woody Austin failed to get up-and-down for birdie from greenside bunkers on the par-5 18th.

Pampling, playing five groups ahead of Furyk and Austin at Snoqualmie Ridge, shot a 6-under 66 to finish at 12-under 204. The 51-year-old Australian won three times on the PGA Tour, the last in 2017 in Las Vegas, and has two PGA Tour of Australasia wins.

“It’s fantastic,” Pampling said. “You look at all the Hall of Famers are just phenomenal out here. There’s so many and they still play really good golf, which people think they don’t, but I’ll tell you what, they play so good. It’s just not quite as far off the tee anymore, but everything else is still really good. To get a win you’ve got to play good and thankfully I did today.”

Furyk dropped a stroke back with a bogey on the par-3 17th after hitting well short of the green and chipping 8 feet past. He hit left into a greenside bunker on 18, sent his third across the green nearly to the fringe and missed a 20-footer.

“Today on the way in everyone kind of ended up making some bogeys and went the other way,” Furyk said. “It’s just kind of that type of golf course. There’s some holes where there’s just no bail-out, so you fly it at the pin and if you hit a good shot, great. if not, you make bogey. There’s a few of those holes.”

Austin, the second-round leader, took two to get out of a right-side bunker and made a bogey to drop to 10 under.

Stephen Ames shot a 70, finishing the classic inside the top 10 tied for the 7th spot.

Furyk had a 70 to tie for second with Tim Herron (67) and Billy Mayfair (69). Austin’s closing 72 left him tied for fifth with Alex Cejka (66).

Pampling opened eagle-birdie, birdied Nos. 7 and 9, bogeyed the 10th, birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 14 and bogeyed the 16th.

“Just obviously come out of the gates quick, eagle-birdie start, that sort of got me right there,” Pampling said.

Colin Montgomerie, playing in the final group with Furyk and Austin, shot a 74 to tie for 11th at 7 under. He had a double bogey on 17 after hitting into the water.

Local favorite Fred Couples closed with a 71 to tie for 26th at 4 under.

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. (AP) Woody Austin birdied the par-5 18th on Saturday for a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke lead over Jim Furyk and Colin Montgomerie in the PGA Tour Champions’ Boeing Classic.

The 57-year-old Austin had three straight birdies on Nos. 13-15. He has four senior victories after also winning four PGA Tour titles.

Austin took a 10-under 134 total into the final round at Snoqualmie Ridge.

“It will be fun,” Austin said. “I mean, that’s all you ever ask for is a shot and I give myself a shot and I’ll see how it goes. … I’m always confident. I think I can beat anybody on any given day.”

Furyk and Montgomerie, playing in the same group, each shot 67.

The 51-year-old Furyk won in his first two senior starts last year and took the U.S. Senior Open last month in Nebraska.

The 58-year-old Montgomerie birdied the final two holes. He won the last of his seven senior titles in 2019.

“I enjoyed playing with Jim Furyk, I must admit,” Montgomerie said. “A gentleman and someone I’ve admired for many, many years since we first came across Jim in ’97 at Valderrama at the Ryder Cup. I’ve always admired his game and it’s great to play with him here in America.”

Jerry Kelly (69) was two strokes back at 8 under with Brett Quigley (67), Tim Petrovic (67), Glen Day (68) and Billy Mayfair (70). Kelly won the 2017 tournament.

Ernie Els, tied for first-round lead with Austin and Mayfair, had a 71 to fall into a tie for ninth at 7 under with Stephen Ames (66) and Jesper Parnevik (69).

Brandt Jobe, the 2019 winner in the event that was canceled last year because of the COVID-10 pandemic, was 1 over after a 75.

Two-time Boeing winner Bernhard Langer was 6 under after a 68.

Local favorite Fred Couples shot a 69 to get to 3 under.

“It was a little better,” Couples said. “I hit a few good shots and I made a few putts.”

CALGARY – Doug Barron felt bad for celebrating his second PGA Tour Champions win a bit prematurely.

After lagging his eagle putt to within tap-in range on the par 5 finishing hole of Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club, Barron threw his arms in the air and started to celebrate his victory at the 2021 Shaw Charity Classic.

“I felt kind of bad because I got a little excited,” said Barron, who apologized to playing partner Steve Flesch for his premature celebrations. “He’s my friend. I would never want to disrespect another player. When you win out here, it’s so few and far between.”

Shortly after draining his short birdie putt, Barron chest bumped his caddie Christopher Shepherd and then did a victory lap around the final green while fist bumping many of the fans in attendance.

“He’s an emotional guy and you can see that,” said Flesch, who made par on the final hole to finish in second place. “And that’s great because sometimes I think we need more emotion in our game ? but if I won like that, I might have run around like a wild man, too.”

Although Barron bogeyed his first hole of the day, he went on to record five birdies and an eagle on the par-5 11th hole to card his third straight round of 6-under 64.

His 54-hole score of 18-under 192 gave the 52-year-old golfer from Memphis, Tenn., just his second-ever PGA Tour Champions victory. His last one was at the 2019 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, N.Y.

For his efforts, Barron won US$352,500, which is $30,100 more than he won when he finished third on the PGA Tour at the 2005 EDS Byron Nelson Championship in Texas.

“Well, when I play, I never think about money,” Barron said. “My wife gets to spend all that, that’s good. Unfortunately there’s only one winner every week and we don’t get to do it very often, so when you do it, you should enjoy it.”

Thanks to three birdies on the front nine and three more in his first four holes on the back side, Flesch of Union, Ky., was in the lead until Barron rallied for the win. Flesch’s round of 5-under 65 was good enough for second as he finished the tournament at 16 under.

“My goal was to make four birdies on the back nine,” said Flesch, who finished in third at the 2019 Shaw Charity Classic. “I made three kind of real quickly and I made a nice par save on 12. I knew I probably needed to make another birdie on one of the last three and I didn’t. And man, all credit to Doug for his finish.”

Billy Andrade and Brandt Jobe ended up in a tie for third place at 13 under, while Billy Mayfair finished one shot back of them alone in fifth.

Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member Stephen Ames of Calgary carded a round of even -par 70 to finish in a tie for sixth at 11 under with David McKenzie.

“Everything about it was great except the fact that we only had 2,000 people watching unfortunately,” Ames said. “I think everybody’s more or less waiting for this COVID thing to get over with and we’ll get back to normal next year, which will be awesome.”

Canada’s @StephenAmesPGA out here chasin aces ♠️ pic.twitter.com/0AOBFSk1ng

— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) August 15, 2021

One day after shooting an even-par round of 70, Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., improved that score by two shots on Sunday to finish in a four-way tie for ninth at 9 under.

“It was a nice test of golf,” Weir said. “I found it difficult on the greens, especially on the weekend. I got stuck in neutral the last two days here, but I love the place and Shaw and Suncor did an amazing job, so it was good to be back up north.”

Also in that group with Weir were Matt Gogel, Tim Herron and Ken Duke.

David Morland IV from Aurora, Ont., shot 69 on Sunday to finish in a six-way tie at 7 under.

“I’m playing decent, just need to make a few more putts coming down the stretch,” Morland said. “Overall, I’m tied for 16th, so a decent week, just trending in the right direction. Just keep on trucking.”

Meanwhile Dennis Hendershott of Brantford, Ont., had four birdies and four bogeys on his round to finish both his day and the tournament at even par. That left him well back of the leaders in a three-way tie for 47th.

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) – Doug Barron eagled the par-5 18th for his second straight 6-under 64 and a one-stroke lead Saturday in the PGA Tour Champions’ Shaw Charity Classic.

The 52-year-old Barron also had five birdies and a bogey at Canyon Meadows. He won the 2019 Dick’s Sporting Goods Open for his lone tour title.

“I played really nice today,” Barron said. “I hit the ball solid all day. I did make a bogey, but I still hit a good shot on the hole and I made bogey. I just didn’t get up-and-down. I’m fine where I’m at. I did look at the leaderboard going into 18. I wanted to be in the final group, so I think the only way, my only path to the final group was to make eagle, so I can’t believe I did it, That was pretty cool.”

Calgary resident Stephen Ames, Steve Flesch and first-round leader Billy Mayfair were a stroke back at 11 under. Ames and Flesch birdied the 18th for 65s, and Mayfair followed an opening 62 with a 67.

A birdie at the last to secure his 65. @StephenAmesPGA, despite 3 bogeys on the back, holds a share of the lead @ShawClassic. pic.twitter.com/JlbTKjJvpa

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) August 14, 2021

Brandt Jobe was 9 under after a 66. David McKenzie (64) and Ken Duke (67) were 8 under.

Canadian star Mike Weir, a stroke back after an opening 63, had a 70 to drop into a tie for eighth at 7 under. The 2003 Masters champion won the Insperity Invitational in early May in Texas for his lone senior title. In his last start, he tied for second in the U.S. Senior Open in Nebraska.

Canadians David Morland IV and Dennis Hendershott are tied for 14th and 48th, respectively.

The tournament is the first the PGA Tour Champions or PGA Tour event in Canada since the Shaw Charity Classic in 2019.

Robert Allenby had a his second straight 71. He turned 50 last month and tied for 64th in the Senior British Open in his Champions debut.

CALGARY – Billy Mayfair needed to sink a lengthy putt on his final hole of the Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club on Friday to tie the course record of 61.

He just missed the putt a few centimetres to the right and had to settle for a tap-in par on his way to carding a round of 8-under 62.

“That’s great to hear that I almost got the course record,” said Mayfair, whose great round put him atop the leaderboard after the opening day of the Shaw Charity Classic. “We’ve still got a long way to go, but it was a good day.”

Mayfair, 55, started his first round of the PGA Tour Champions event on the back 9. After going 2 under through his first six holes, Mayfair rolled in four straight birdies to move into contention.

“Just about everything went right today,” he said. “Been a long time since I’ve shot this low and I was real happy with it. I moved from Arizona to Oklahoma and was moving boxes and doing all that stuff for three weeks. Maybe it did me some good because I got here and I was refreshed and definitely had a good day today.”

Meanwhile, Canadian fan favourite Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont.,made his debut at the Shaw Charity Classic in fine fashion as he carded a tidy round of 7-under 63 on the par 70, 7,086-yard layout to put him alone in second spot.

“You really have to get off to some good starts and today was one of those days that was exceptional,” said 51-year-old Weir, who’s a rookie on the senior circuit for golfers aged 50 and older. “I would have taken 3 or 4 under, so 7’s definitely a bonus.”

A 7-under 63 has @mweirsy just one back after Friday @ShawClassic. 👏 pic.twitter.com/x6hiKaLqYu

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) August 13, 2021

The 2003 Masters champion and winner of seven other PGA Tour events was 4 under after his front nine.

“I caught fire in the middle of the round with a birdie and an eagle on 10 and 11, then just kind of stalled a little bit,” said Weir, who finished his round with seven straight pars. “I had a couple good looks at it and didn’t make them. All in all, it was a really good day.”

Although the gallery at this year’s tournament is limited to just 2,000 people a day, Weir said he appreciated the support he received on the opening day of the 54-hole event that wraps up on Sunday.

“I was ready to make a few putts for them and hopefully I can kind of keep some momentum, so Sunday maybe it will be even louder hopefully,” Weir said.

Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member and former Calgary resident Stephen Ames is in a tie for third spot at 6 under along with Doug Barron and Steve Flesch.

“It’s a good start,” said Ames, who was among a patron group who brought the tournament to Calgary in 2013. “Like Mike has mentioned, the mindset has to change when it’s three rounds of golf. You’ve got to get out of the box really quick and get going, so this obviously is going to help.”

Drained.

A perfect birdie putt for @StephenAmesPGA at the 14th @ShawClassic. pic.twitter.com/EkAkSIflxf

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) August 13, 2021

Ken Duke and Brandt Jobe both shot rounds of 65 and are tied for sixth place overall.

The 65-player field also featured two other Canadians.

David Morland IV, who’s originally from Aurora, Ont., and Dennis Hendershott, of Brantford, Ont., both carded rounds of 2-under 68 and are in a logjam of 11 players – including Germany’s Bernhard Langer – who are tied for 21st spot.

“Hopefully that’s the worst round of the week and we can get a little closer to the leaderboard,” said Morland, who shot 64 in his opening round of the 2019 event before falling out of contention with back-to-back rounds of 72. “We miss having super big crowds, but right now we’re just glad to be playing in any circumstance.

“But the guys did a great job here to be able to have the event, so we’re happy with what we’ve got and we look forward to next year having everybody back.”

Mike Weir will make his Shaw Charity Classic debut at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club in Calgary on Friday.

The 51-year-old from Sarnia, Ont., is in his rookie season on the PGA TOUR Champions and has already notched one win and four runner-up finishes in 20 starts over the course of the 2020-21 season.  

“I’m having a lot of fun,” Weir said on the season so far. “When you’ve been down and struggling for a long time and you’ve kind of clawed your way out of it, it’s very satisfying. Now my game’s in a really good place and I’m excited.”

Weir’s win at the Insperity Invitational in May was the former Masters winner’s first win since 2007 when he won the Fry’s Electronics Open on the PGA TOUR.

This will be the first time the PGA TOUR Champions is in Canada since the 2019 Shaw Charity Classic.

“It’s always great to get back up here,” said Weir on playing in Canada. “I had a chance to check out the golf course, first time around. It’s very good, really good condition.”

Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club has hosted the event since its inaugural year in 2013 and is a par 70, 7,086-yard course.

Weir will be playing in a field alongside fellow Canadians Stephen Ames, David Morland IV, and Dennis Hendershott.

This will be Ames’ seventh appearance at the tournament, his best finish being a tie for fifth in 2015. Ames also has a win on the PGA TOUR Champions this season at the Principal Charity Classic in June where he narrowly beat out Weir by one stroke for the win.

Weir, who’s currently ranked No. 8 on the Charles Schwab Cup, said he feels great being back in Canada.

“Whenever we play the Canadian Open or here and then back in the day at the Air Canada Championship, it was just the support that we got,” Weir said. “I think the fans have always been just so wonderful to me and rallied behind me and supported me, and the Presidents Cup in Montreal, they’re phenomenal memories.”

The event will allow 2,000 spectators each tournament day.

American Wes Short Jr. is the defending champion of the event. He won with a birdie on the final hole to win by one stroke over Scott McCarron, who won the event back-to-back in 2017 and 2018.

Weir will tee off at 10:58 a.m. in Calgary.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Jim Furyk put his name alongside some of golf’s greats Sunday once he recovered from a rough start in the final round of the U.S. Senior Open.

Making his debut in the event, Furyk closed with a 1-over 71 to become the eighth player to win both the U.S. Open and Senior Open, joining Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Billy Casper, Gary Player, Hale Irwin and Orville Moody.

“It’s an incredible list,” Furyk said. “I didn’t really want to look to see who was on it last night, but when I finished in the scoring tent I saw it was on TV. They listed the seven folks before. I’m very honored and humbled to have my name in the same breath, to be honest with you. That’s some damn good players.”

Furyk finished at 7-under 273 at Omaha Country Club and held off Retief Goosen and Canadian Mike Weir by three strokes.

He won the U.S. Open in 2003 at Olympia Fields south of Chicago, is a 17-time winner on the PGA Tour and won his first two PGA Tour Champions events upon turning 50 last year. This was the third senior major he’s played. He tied for 16th in the Senior PGA and was sixth in the Senior Players Championship.

It was not the stress-free final round Furyk wanted Sunday. He played the first three holes in 3 over, finding the unforgiving rough three times on the second hole and a tricky lie in the greenside bunker on the third. Suddenly, his four-shot lead was down to one.

Furyk righted himself with a birdie on the par-5 sixth and, after going out in 2-over 37, regained the four-shot lead by the time he made the turn.

It wasn’t until he stuck his 109-yard approach to 3 feet to birdie the par-5 16th that he put away his closest pursuers, major champions Goosen and Weir. That put him three up with two holes to play.

“I felt real good about it, I’ll say that,” he said. “Looking back after making bogey at 15, that was probably the clincher.”

Furyk played his final 15 holes in 2 under and finished at 7-under 273 to win the Francis D. Ouimet Memorial Trophy and $720,000. He was the seventh player to have a lead of four or more strokes entering the final round of the U.S. Senior Open, and six have gone on to win.

Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., tied for lowest round of the day with a 67, and Goosen shot 69.

Furyk looked to be in full control after he followed his 64 on Friday with a 66 on Saturday.

But he bogeyed the par-5 second hole after his layup attempt from the right rough rolled across the fairway and into the left rough, and his next shot found the greenside cabbage.

Then he put his tee shot just below the lip of the left bunker on the par-3 third and needed two swings to get out. He two-putted for a double bogey that dropped him to 5 under for the tournament.

“I was just a little mad at myself for turning a 4 into a 5,” Furyk said. “You’ve got a big lead or got a lead going into Sunday, that’s what you’re trying to avoid. So I was really just trying to collect myself.”

Goosen birdied the first hole and tapped in for another on the sixth to get to 4 under. It looked as if he would stall out with bogeys on two of his next four holes, but he played his last seven in 2 under to hang around.

“Overall, I would say the way I felt early in the week I would have taken second,” Goosen said, “but it would have been nice to have been a little closer coming down the last.”

Weir started the day seven shots off the lead and made three pushes to get within three, the last when he made birdie on the 16th just before Furyk bogeyed the 15th.

“It would have been really tough to catch Jim,” said the Canadian. “He’s such a tough competitor and solid player that he’s not going to give too many back, and you know he’s going to fight.”

Rod Pampling (67) birdied two of the last four holes to finish at 3 under,

Bernhard Langer, who has won a record 11 senior majors, made long birdie puts on Nos. 11 and 12 and tapped in for another on No. 13 to pull within four of the lead. The 63-year-old could get no closer in his bid for his first senior major win since 2017. He had a 68 to tie for fifth at 1 under.

Calgary’s Stephen Ames, paired with Furyk, couldn’t take advantage of his partner’s early struggles.

The first-round co-leader Ames, who won the Principal Charity Classic last month, plugged his tee shot into the face of the left greenside bunker on the third, took an unplayable lie and double bogeyed. He bogeyed the first two holes on the back nine to fall out of contention. His 75 left him 1 over.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Jim Furyk overcame a mid-round lull following the second of two weather delays Saturday and moved closer to winning his first senior major title.

The 51-year-old took a four-shot lead into the final round of the U.S. Senior Open after shooting a 4-under 66 on Saturday to get to 8-under 202 at Omaha Country Club.

“I started off real well this morning, felt I was striking the ball well and hit some good shots and good putts,” Furyk said. “When I came out from the delay, I kind of lost my rhythm. I kind of settled down and made a long putt and for the rest of the way played pretty well.”

First-round co-leader Stephen Ames birdied three of the last five holes for a 68, bouncing back from a 73 on Friday, and will be paired with Furyk on Sunday.

Retief Goosen closed with two birdies, shot 66 and was alone at 3 under.

The biggest mover was Steve Flesch. The part-time television analyst shot the best round of the day with a 64 and was at 2 under. Past Masters champions Fred Couples (69) and Mike Weir (68) were in a group with Wes Short Jr. (68) and Kevin Sutherland (69) at 1 under.

Tee times were pushed back three hours after an overnight storm with straight-line wind of 90 mph knocked over camera towers and downed trees.

Furyk birdied the par-4 fourth and par-3 fifth and, as thunder rumbled, tapped in for par on the par-5 sixth before the horn sounded to signal the stoppage of play.

About an inch of rain fell during the three-hour delay, and workers who cleared brush off the course in the morning used squeegees and blowers to get standing water off fairways and greens.

Furyk, who won the U.S. Open in 2003, hit the first six greens in regulation and then went into grinding mode. He hit only two greens while playing the first six holes following the delay in 1-over par.

He closed with birdies on three of the last six holes, hitting his approach to 4 feet on the par-4 18th and making the putt to extend his lead.

Ames bogeyed two of the last three holes on the front nine and then got a hot putter and shot 4-under 32 on the back to put himself in contention again.

All he did to start making putts was stand a bit closer to the ball.

“All of a sudden my eyes felt better, my stroke felt easier and more free, and I started hitting the pace right, which is what I was struggling with,” Ames said. “I hit some real quality putts coming down the end there, so that right there alone is going to make my dinner taste a lot better tonight.”

Goosen, who won U.S. Opens in 2001 and 2004, had five birdies against one bogey. His biggest disappointment was a three-putt for par on the 313-yard 13th after he drove the green.

“My expectations were really low in the beginning of the week,” Goosen said. “I was hitting it so bad the last few weeks, and I was trying everything. I just decided to stick with something, and as the week got on, I started hitting it better and better. My confidence is coming back a little.”

Flesch flirted with missing the cut for a third straight U.S. Senior Open but rallied with a couple late birdies Friday and was among the first to tee off Saturday.

Flesch bogeyed his second hole, the par-3 11th, and then went flag hunting on receptive greens and birdied seven of the next 13.

He said he was proudest of parring the 434-yard ninth, his final hole. He drove into 4-inch-high rough, chopped the ball out and got up and down from 85 yards.

“I haven’t had much luck in U.S. Opens or U.S. Senior Opens, for that matter,” he said. “But it’s fun to contend, and I really have nothing to lose, and that’s kind of how I played today. I imagine I’ll kind of play the same way tomorrow and just enjoy it.”

Flesch said he’s savoring the experience because his college-age son, Griffin, has been carrying his bag while his regular caddie recovers from back surgery.

“I’m trying not to get choked up,” Flesch said, “but I think he wants it more than I do anymore. It’s been fun. He helped me a lot. He’s a great caddie. He knows the game, and he’s been a great side kick for me these past couple weeks.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The combination of wind, heat and humidity made it difficult to go low at the U.S. Senior Open on Friday.

Jim Furyk and Greg Kraft found a way.

Furyk shot a 6-under 64, the best round in days at Omaha Country Club, to take a two-stroke lead over Canada’s Stephen Ames. The 2003 U.S. Open champion and 17-time PGA Tour winner rebounded from an opening 72 to get to 4 under.

“I was able to see some putts go in, and I hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens today, kept the ball in good places,” Furyk said. “When I missed it, I missed it in the right spots for the most part. Just really kind of got on a roll and got some momentum.”

First-round co-leader Ames, based out of Calgary, bogeyed four of the first six holes on his second nine and shot 73. Two-time U.S. Senior Open runner-up Miguel Angel Jimenez (71) was 1 under.

Kraft, who hadn’t played in a tournament since September 2019, had four straight birdies on his second nine and shot 65 for the best round of the afternoon session.

“I just got it going,” said Kraft, who shot 75 on Thursday. “I actually played not that bad yesterday, but I was on the wrong side of the hole all day. Today I got it under the hole, which made a big difference.”

Kraft was in a logjam of 10 players at even par. Among them were first-round co-leader Billy Andrade (75), Fred Couples (71), David Toms, Thongchai Jaidee (71) and the oldest player in the field, 67-year-old Jay Haas (71).

“You know, there’s such a long way to go, but I’m playing OK,” Haas said. “I don’t think I’m playing just amazingly golf that I can’t even fathom. I can play better, I think, but I have to do it. I feel good. Health, I love the heat. It keeps me loose.”

Alex Cejka (74), the winner of the first two majors of the year, was in a group of 12 at 1 over along with major winners Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., (74), Mark O’Meara (71) and Retief Goosen (69). Weir sits tied for 14 heading into the weekend.

With thunderstorms in the forecast Saturday, the first tee times for the third round were moved up to 7:15 a.m. with threesomes going off Nos. 1 and 10.

Temperatures were in the low 70s when Furyk went out Friday morning, but wind swirled and was gusty. The wind calmed by the afternoon, but heat and humidity set in to create feel-like temperatures near 100, and the conditions coupled with the hills of OCC wore on the 50-and-over players.

Furyk hit 12 of 13 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in regulation and had three birdies on each side.

The turning point, he said, was making a 30-foot putt to save par after his tee shot landed in a greenside bunker on the 240-yard, par-3 third hole. Birdies on three of the next four holes got him under par for the tournament.

“Then you’re kind of playing with house money,” he said. “You can relax a little bit and just think fairways and greens.”

Furyk ended his round with a birdie on the par-4 18th. He hit a knocked-down 8-iron about 15 feet under the hole and made the putt to secure his lowest score in an official event since last September.

The 51-year-old Furyk has two victories and nine top-10s in 15 events since he joined PGA Tour Champions last year. He’s never been out of the top 25 as a senior. His highest finish in a senior major is sixth in the Senior Players Championship at Firestone two weeks ago.

Andrade followed a bogey-free 65 with a 75 that included six bogeys.

“I felt like I played better than 75, and I’m still in it,” Andrade said. “So just go prepare for tomorrow and go out and hit some drives in the fairway and see if we can make a few birdies.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Canada’s Stephen Ames and Billy Andrade shot 5-under 65s on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the U.S. Senior Open.

Ames, from Calgary, had seven birdies and two bogeys in the morning session. Andrade had five birdies and no bogeys on an Omaha Country Club course that dried out after the sun broke through and the wind came up in the afternoon.

Ames hit 11 of 13 fairways and 16 greens in regulation on the 6,891-yard course set in the rolling hills on the north side of the city. He birdied five of seven holes in the middle of the round before missing short birdie putts on Nos. 12 and 13.

Ames made a 15-footer for birdie on the par-4 No. 14 and hit a 6-iron to 4 inches on the downhill, 223-yard par-3 No. 15. But the 57-year-old naturalized Canadian citizen from Trinidad three-putted from 8 feet for bogey on the par-4 17th and came in at 32.

“I’m like, ‘Whoa, could have been a lot lower on the back nine, which is unfortunate,” said Ames, whose highest finish in a senior major was a tie for third in the 2018 Senior British Open.

Let’s get it @StephenAmesPGA! Current leader at the U.S. Senior Open 🇨🇦🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/iPiMzXTlK2

— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) July 8, 2021

Ames got some local knowledge from his caddie, Troy Martin of Omaha. The two connected in April when Peter Jacobsen told Ames he was taking off the rest of the season and that his caddie, Martin, needed a job.

“I decided, OK, I’ll give him a trial run, and our trial run started off with a 10th in Birmingham and a second in Atlanta,” Ames said.

“I’m like, `OK, what are you doing for the rest of the year?’ That’s how it ended up, and obviously we won in Des Moines, just up the road from here. It’s been a good year so far for me, for us.”

Wes Short Jr. shot 66. Alex Cejka, looking for his third victory in a senior major this year, and Robert Karlsson followed at 67.

Andrade, who started on the 10th hole, pulled into a tie with Ames with a birdie on the par-5 sixth. He got up-and-down from a greenside bunker to save par on the par-4 eighth. He just missed a 20-foot downhill birdie putt on the par-4 ninth.

Andrade’s best finish this season is a tie for fifth, and he has only one other top-10 in 22 events. Two weeks ago he had his worst tournament since 2014, finishing 18 over and tying for 63rd in the Senior Players Championship at Firestone. He’s winless since 2015.

Short has five top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour Champions this year and is looking for his first win in a senior major. He was steady throughout his round, making four birdies and mostly avoiding the thick rough.

Jay Haas, at 67 the oldest player in the field, shot 69.

The field includes 16 players who won a total of 26 majors before joining the senior tour. Among those playing in the Senior Open for the first time are Mike Weir (70), Jim Furyk (72), Ernie Els (73), Rich Beem (73) and Jose Maria Olazabal (77). Weir sits T16 going into the second round of the major.

Bernard Langer, who has won a record 11 senior majors, shot 71.

Steve Stricker, the 2019 champion, is not playing in Omaha. He’s on the regular PGA Tour this week at the John Deere Classic. There was no U.S. Senior Open last year because of the pandemic.

Kenny Perry, who won the Senior Open here in 2013, opened with a 71. The 60-year-old Perry, who also won the Senior Open in 2017, has only two top-10 finishes in 22 events this season.