BELMONT, Mass. – Jesper Parnevik took one look at the tree-lined, hilly Belmont Country Club this week and immediately found a favorite.

“This is very much a Bernhard Langer-type of golf course,” Parnevik said he remembered thinking.

Langer has proved him right, posting a second consecutive 6-under 65 Friday in what he called a “stressless” bogey-free round that gave him a four-shot lead halfway through the Senior Players Championship.

“Somebody said, `That’s pretty boring stuff: 65, 65,'” Langer said after hitting all but one green in regulation. “I don’t think it is. I’d like to do it every day.”

Russ Cochran’s slump-busting 65 left him alone in second, while Steve Pate set a course-record with a bogey-free 63. That put him in a three-way tie for third and six shots back with the weary Lee Janzen and Parnevik, the Champions Tour newcomer who shot 66.

All have plenty to do to catch Langer on the old-school Donald Ross layout hosting this tournament for the first time. Langer took command by sinking a 40-foot putt on 16 for his sixth birdie. His lone hiccup was a three-putt par from just off the 17th green.

“That German engineering,” Parnevik said of Langer. “He never breaks down. He’s tough to beat at a place like this. He’s so systematic.”

Langer is without a victory this year in which he’s been slowed by injuries. But this week he’s looked much like his 2014 self that won this event and four others.

The 57-year-old Langer is nearing a 24th Champions Tour title. He’d also be the first repeat winner of the Senior Players since Arnold Palmer in 1984-85.

And the wiry Langer’s fitness should help this weekend as the over-50 tour deals with another difficult walking course.

“French Lick was very tough, Des Moines was maybe even harder, and even Shoal Creek is a pretty good walk,” Langer said. “I just see it going into the fitness trailer, the physio truck at the end of the day. A couple guys get treated and they all fall asleep.”

Janzen is perhaps the most in need of a nap. He was the medalist in a 36-hole sectional Monday in Purchase, New York, that earned him a spot in next week’s U.S. Open. He sat at 7 under before a bogey-par-par finish left him at 69.

Without the wind from a day earlier and with the temperature in the 80s, the course yielded a record round.

A couple hours after Brad Faxon bested the previous course mark by a shot with a 64, Pate eclipsed him with a bogey-free, eight-birdie round with his distinctive yellow ball.

It was a relief for Pate, who entered the week with a 72.82 scoring average. He shot 73 Thursday.

“I was not doing anything really badly. I just haven’t been doing anything really well,” Pate said after his best Champions Tour round. “It’s a very fine line, and quite a bit of it is between the ears.”

Cochran nearly matched him with a seven-birdie round that broke with what’s been a difficult season that’s left him 35th in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.

“Where I am with my game, I felt like I needed a good round,” Cochran said.

Colin Montgomerie, who won last month’s Senior PGA Championship for his third major victory in six starts, shot 71 and was nine shots back.

Even with the daunting task of catching Langer, Parnevik was thrilled to be in the hunt in the 81-player field that had no 36-hole cut. Parnevik turned 50 in March.

“I’ve been so injured the last seven years,” Parnevik said. “I’m so happy the body feels OK and I can play again.”

CALGARY — Two of the young guns on the PGA TOUR’s Champions Tour, Lee Janzen and Scott McCarron, will be focused on putting on the champion’s white cowboy hat when they tee it up in the Stampede City for the 2015 Shaw Charity Classic, August 5-9 at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club.

Janzen and McCarron are no strangers to the winner’s circle. They bring 11 PGA TOUR titles with them to Canada, including Janzen’s two majors, where they will look to knock off the top players in the world 50-years old and over.

“One of the most compelling characteristics of the Champions Tour is we continue to welcome new, big names each year, who are still able to play on the PGA TOUR,” said Sean Van Kesteren, tournament director, Shaw Charity Classic. “This year is no different with another strong rookie class led by Lee and Scott. They still have a lot of game in them, and are great additions to the field.”

Janzen is an eight-time winner on the PGA TOUR including his two U.S. Open titles. Janzen recently qualified to make a return to the U.S. Open in 2015 after a six-year hiatus. A member of two U.S. Ryder Cup Teams, Janzen also won The Players Championship in 1995. After joining the Champions Tour full time this year, he recorded his first victory in February at the ACE Group Classic.

“I have played with pretty much everybody out here on the PGA TOUR so it is like a big fraternity on the Champions Tour,” said Janzen. “But you have to be ready to play. These guys can all still play at a very high level, and are still extremely competitive. We want to play well, and still love to win. Hopefully that happens for me in Calgary.”

Janzen will be joined by Scott McCarron who has three PGA TOUR titles to his credit. The two Champions Tour rookies also share a memorable moment in PGA TOUR history. In August 1999, McCarron made a hole-in-one during the first round of the CVS Charity Classic, which was immediately followed by Janzen on the 17th hole at Rhode Island Country Club. McCarron is no stranger to the hole-in-one history books. His first two came seven holes apart when he was 28 years old, at Alameda Golf Club near Oakland. He made his first ace on the fourth hole, before chalking up another hole-in-one on the 11th.

“Scott McCarron’s name is synonymous with the hole-in-one club, and I think it is fitting we are having him with us this year in Calgary with the tournament running a big contest to recognize all new Canadians to the hole-in-one club in 2015,” added Van Kesteren. “The Shaw Charity Classic is giving one lucky fan who records a hole-in-one – and three friends – the chance to feel like a professional golfer and play with the pros for a day. It will be a contest that will run throughout the summer until tournament week, and hopefully that winner will have a chance to play, or at least meet, Mr. Hole-in-One, Scott McCarron.”

Any Canadian golfers who record a hole-in-one during the 2015 contest period must register through the tournament web site at www.shawcharityclassic.com for a chance to win the grand prize. All new members of the club will be invited to participate in a qualification closest-to-the-pin contest in July 24. The top-10 closest to the pin winners will then be invited to media day at Canyon Meadows, July 29, where the winner will be determined.

The hole-in-one must be attested by the golf facility’s general manager, chief operating officer, club president, head professional or director of golf. Participants between the ages of 13 and 18 must also have parental consent. The Shaw Charity Classic will aim to profile each hole-in-one on its social media platforms.

Some of the greatest names in the game will play for a purse of $2.35 million, an increase of $100,000, when they return to Calgary’s Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club from August 5-9. Tickets and corporate packages for the Shaw Charity Classic are available online at www.shawcharityclassic.com. Youth 17 and under are admitted free with a ticketed adult.

BELMONT, Mass. – Bernhard Langer wasn’t sure what to expect from unfamiliar confines on Thursday, but that didn’t keep him from making history.

The two-time Masters champion shot four birdies on the final five holes to tie a course record with a 6-under-par 65 in the first round of the Senior Players Championship.

“I was watching the leaderboards and I saw a bunch of 3 and 4 unders so I figured that must be doable,” said Langer, who was playing the par-71, 6,855-yard course at Belmont Country Club for the first time.

Afternoon wind gusts made for difficult playing conditions on an otherwise pleasant day, but that didn’t seem to bother Langer.

Langer bogeyed twice on his first nine holes, but still carded a 2-under 34 at the halfway point. After opening the back nine with four straight pars, Langer charged up the leaderboard with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 14 and 15 and finished with two more on Nos. 17 and 18.

It wasn’t until the 17th hole that Langer took sole possession of the lead. On the par-4 18th, his tee shot landed in the rough, but a hard wedge swing placed the ball three yards from the hole for an easy putt.

A victory this weekend in Belmont would give Langer his second consecutive Senior Players title, something no golfer has done since Arnold Palmer in 1984-85.

“It’s still early in the week so I’m just trying to not shoot myself in the foot and be in contention,” said Langer.

Guy Boros, Lee Janzen, and Rocco Mediate finished the round in a three-way tie for second at 4-under 67.

Boros, whose father Julius won the 1963 U.S. Open at The Country Club in nearby Brookline, birdied three of his final six holes to put himself in contention.

“I didn’t hit it great,” Boros said. “I putted pretty well, so I made a lot of good par putts and I two-putted twice for birdie. I hit some good, some bad, so it was kind of all over the place.”

Janzen, a two-time U.S. Open champion who qualified for the tournament again on Monday, birdied five of his first nine holes while Mediate, best known for his second-place finish after a battle with Tiger Woods in the 2008 U.S. Open, began the day with three birdies on his first four.

“Golf course is fantastic,” Mediate said. “It just keeps you on your toes really. I missed a few fairways today by feet, a couple of feet and it was nasty.”

Charles Schwab Cup points leader Colin Montgomerie is three shots off the lead, and tied for fifth at 3-under-par 68.

“I’m not quite comfortable yet,” Montgomerie said. “You play defense a wee bit around here and you’ve got to position your ball and it’s playing chess the with course sort of thing.”

The Senior Players is the third of four Champions Tour majors and the 12th of 25 events the season, marking the tour’s unofficial halfway point.

A winner’s share of $405,000 of the $2.7 million purse and 810 points in the Charles Schawb Cup will be awarded to the champion.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Mark Calcavecchia won the Principal Charity Classic on Sunday for his third career Champions Tour title, closing with a 3-under 69 for a one-stroke victory over Joe Durant and Brian Henninger.

Calcavecchia, who missed the cut in the Senior PGA Championship two weeks ago, never trailed during the final round at the Wakonda Club. The 13-time PGA Tour winner finished at 12-under 204.

Durant shot a 69, missing a long birdie putt on the 18th hole. Henninger had a 68.

Canada’s Rod Spittle was fourth at 10 under after a 68.

Davis Love III had a 68 to top the group at 9 under. He was making his fourth Champions Tour start since turning 50 in April 2014.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Mark Calcavecchia was carrying groceries into his brother-in-law’s house on Thanksgiving morning when he stumbled.

Calcavecchia’s right hand went through two panes of glass, slashing a tendon and leaving a finger dangling. Six months later, the 1989 British Open champion is finally playing like his old self.

Calcavecchia made a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole Saturday for a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Champions Tour’s Principal Charity Classic.

“I like it here,” said Calcavecchia, who grew up in nearby Laurel, Nebraska. “A lot of good things going on here for me.”

Calcavecchia had a 9-under 135 total at Wakonda Club.

Joe Durant was second after a 68. Paul Goydos, Brian Henninger and Michael Allen were tied for third at 7 under, all shooting 70.

The 54-year-old Calcavecchia had surgery in early December. He couldn’t swing a club for three months, and the lingering pain has limited the time he can spend on the range.

Calcavecchia entered the week with just one top-10 finish in seven events. He has two career victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning 13 times on the PGA Tour.

“There’s still a whole bunch of guys that can win. So, basically (Sunday), I’m just trying to do what I’m doing,” said Calcavecchia, who has notched top 10s in each of his four previous trips to Iowa.

Durant bogeyed his first hole Saturday. He rallied, briefly holding the lead before Calcavecchia’s strong finish.

He’ll join Calcavecchia in Sunday’s final group in search of his second win of the year.

“I just didn’t get flustered,” Durant said. “I think you just have to stay very patient on this golf course. … The leaderboard is really bunched up. Someone is going to come out and shoot a good round. It’s going to take a good round from any of us to have a chance to win. But you just play the first round to put yourself in position.”

Billy Andrade, tied for the first-round lead after a 66, double-bogeyed his first hole Saturday and stumbled to a 76. He was tied for 32nd at 2 under

Jose Coceres, who joined Andrade atop the first-round leaderboard, shot a 73 to drop into a tie for 11th at 5 under.

One of tour’s oldest players made one of the best shots in the 15-year history of the Iowa event.

Larry Nelson, 67, used an 8-iron to ace the 172-yard 17th hole. It was the second hole-in-one for Nelson on the Champions Tour. He celebrated by tossing his ball to the crowd.

Nelson was tied for 42nd at 1 under after a 70.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Bill Andrade and Argentina’s Jose Coceres share the first-round lead at 6-under 66 on Friday in the Champions Tour’s Principal Charity Classic.

Andrade had seven birdies and a three-putt bogey on No. 14 at Wakonda Club. The four-time PGA Tour winner teamed with Joe Duran to win the Legends of Golf in April for his first Champions Tour title.

“I love this place,” Andrade said. “I just think it’s like a where I grew up in Rhode Island, so it’s tree-lined, it’s like a mini-Westchester I kind of call it. I just think a fabulous place and it played very nicely today I thought.”

Andrade rebounded from the bogey on the par-3 14th with a birdie on the par-5 15th and birdied the par-4 18th for a share of the lead.

“You’ve got to, obviously, drive it in the right places and you have to get a little lucky on some tee shots if the ball stays in the fairway, so you have to have a little imagination off the tee,” Andrade said. “Then it’s hitting greens and getting it in position where you’re not above the hole all day and you have chances to make birdies. There’s a lot of birdies out there and the course is in great shape. It’s a fun track to play. If you don’t pay attention you can get beat up a little bit.”

Coceres, from Argentina, had six birdies – four on the final seven holes – in his bogey-free round. The two-time PGA Tour champion is winless on the 50-and-over tour.

“I played very well,” Coceres said. “Very happy for my golf from putter, everything, very good. … The course is in very good condition.”

Defending champion Tom Pernice Jr. was a stroke back along with Mark Calcavecchia, Paul Goydos, Michael Allen, Brian Henninger, Grant Waite and Jeff Coston.

“It was nice to get off to a good start,” said Pernice, a playoff winner last year over Doug Garwood. “Great weather conditions, the golf course is in great shape, so to get in 5 under is a good start. Got away with a few sloppy shots at times and just didn’t drive the ball as well as I could have, but had some good recoveries, hit some good putts.”

Bernhard Langer and Canada’s Rod Spittle topped the group at 68 and held a share of 10th thru 18 holes.

Davis Love III opened with a 70. He’s making his fourth Champions Tour start since turning 50 in April 2014.

Another Canuck, Jim Rutledge, opened with a 75.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – There were no last-second buzzer-beaters in Larry Bird’s hometown on a bright, breezy Sunday.

Colin Montgomerie turned in a command performance, shooting a 3-under 69 on the treacherous Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort to win the Senior PGA Championship by four shots.

Montgomerie earned $495,000 for his third senior major championship victory in 10 appearances, including three of the past six. The 51-year-old Scot’s 8-under total of 280 made him one of only five players under par, the fewest since three closed the championship in red numbers at Canterbury in Cleveland in 2009.

Mexico’s Esteban Toledo shot a 69 to finish second.

Montgomerie was happy but drained.

“It was a difficult position to be in at the start of the day, being three ahead,” said Montgomerie, who called Dye’s design one of the iconic courses in America. “Nowhere to go but down with every hole out there a potential double bogey. I could never relax. I could never relax at all.

“Very, very tiring mentally. Every shot had to be executed or you could be in trouble. That’s a test and a half.”

Montgomerie is the first player to successfully defend the Senior PGA title since Hale Irwin won three in succession in 1996-98. Montgomerie is the first to record his first three Champions Tour victories in majors since Jack Nicklaus, who won his first six on the biggest stages.

Montgomerie won the 2013 Senior PGA at Harbor Shores in Michigan, and two months later took the U.S. Senior Open in a playoff over Gene Sauers at Oak Tree in Oklahoma.

It has been an extraordinary life-after-50 turnaround for a player who won 31 European Tour titles, topped that tour’s money list a record eight times, represented Europe in the Ryder Cup eight times but went 0 for 71 in major championships.

Six times he was a runner-up in those majors, three times in the U.S. Open and once each in the British Open and PGA Championship.

“He’s been in contention in majors pretty much his whole career so he’s very familiar with that,” said Brian Henninger, who matched Scott Verplank’s 71 to give both a share fourth place at 2 under. “He obviously hasn’t always executed and performed like he wanted to, but even at his age, he’s probably learned through some of his experiences.”

Toledo started the day at 1 under and but made birdies at 1, 5 and 7 and twice got within a stroke of Montgomerie on the front nine. Both times, the leader answered with a birdie.

After lipping out a short par putt at No. 1, Montgomerie ran off birdies at 5, 7, 9, 10 and 12. He was 9 under for the tournament, five strokes clear of Toledo and in charge.

“That’s what it takes. He knows how to win,” said Toledo, who played without a bogey Sunday. “He loves the pressure. There’s nothing I could have done. It was a great week for me. The course was outstanding, the crowds were great. It was a great tournament.”

Montgomerie made bogeys at 15 and 18 but his lead was too large, his grasp too sure.

“When I holed the putt at 12, I felt safe,” Montgomerie said. “I knew how tough that finish is.”

Montgomerie and his Sunday playing partner and World Golf Hall of Fame colleague, Bernhard Langer, have won four of the last five major championships on the Champions Tour. Jeff Maggert’s win last week in Alabama in the Regions Tradition is the lone exception.

So it seemed the final round might turn into a match play competition between Montgomerie, at 5 under, and Langer, 2 under, in the final twosome, but no drama developed.

Langer caught an awkward lie on the margin of a bunker and the rough alongside the second green and made double bogey. Then he missed the green and bogeyed the par-3 fourth. When Montgomerie birdied Nos. 5 and 7, Langer was seven shots behind.

It was somewhat reminiscent of the 2014 Senior PGA, where they also played in final twosome and Montgomerie shot 65, Langer 70.

Montgomerie’s victory extended an unprecedented Senior PGA streak. International players have won the event four consecutive years: England’s Roger Chapman in 2012, Japan’s Khoki Idoki in 2013 and Montgomerie’s pair.

Canada’s Rod Spittle climbed 30 spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 34th after a final round 69. The St. Catharines, Ont., native finished at 8 over.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Colin Montgomerie was long considered one of the best players in golf who had never won a major championship.

As a senior, he has said no more.

Montgomerie shot a 2-under 70 on Saturday on The Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort to take a three-shot lead into the final round of the Senior PGA Championship.

At 5-under 211, the 51-year-old Scot was in position to win his third senior major championship in a year. He won the Senior PGA last year at Harbor Shores in Michigan, and took the U.S. Senior Open in July in Oklahoma.

“It was frustrating to come to these championships and walk off with the runner-ups’ medal,” Montgomerie said. “I’ve done that five times. You try your damnedest and you come up a shot light.

“I’m more relaxed now. I’m more relaxed than I was. My temperament is more consistent and I think that’s helping. I’m enjoying it, I really am. I’m a great believer that if you enjoy something, you’re usually quite good at it.”

Bernhard Langer, a four-time winner in senior majors, was second after a 68. He eagled the 415-yard, par-4 eighth hole and closed with consecutive birdies after a bogey at the par-5 16th.

Montgomerie and Langer will play in the final twosome Sunday, just like they did last year at Harbor Shores, when Montgomerie shot a 65 and won by four.

Scott Verplank, Esteban Toledo and Brian Henninger were tied for third at 1 under. Verplank shot 70, Toledo 73, and Henninger 74.

Henninger made a triple bogey on the 16th to drop out of a share of the lead. His second shot on the 539-yard hole darted right, into deep, deep rough and he had to declare his ball lost.

Second-round leader Tom Lehman had a 79 to drop into a tie for 13th at 2 over.

“I just didn’t make them,” said Lehman, who had three three-putts and 34 putts in all.

Langer was fortified by his birdie-birdie finish, but he wondered what might have been after hitting a wedge from 80 yards over the green at 16 and making bogey and missing a couple short putts.

“I had two of the worst lip-outs ever in my life,” Langer said. “On No. 3, I hit a putt that went in on the left, went all the way around and came back out this way. So it went 460 degrees.”

Thirty of the 76 players who made the cut shot par or better on a sunny Saturday with a tricky wind. Eleven players go into the final round within six shots of Montgomerie.

“I am where I am. I would rather be leading by eight, but I’m not,” said one of them, Verplank, who has struggled with injuries over his two Champions Tour seasons.

Verplank and the rest can by comforted by the severity of the Course. Things can happen fast on it. They happened fast Saturday.

Langer holed a 7-iron from 162 yards for his eagle at No. 8.

A few minutes later and a few groups behind, Lehman three-putted No. 6 for a bogey. One group ahead, Toledo half-shanked his tee shot into the pond alongside the par-3 seventh green and made double bogey. Then Lehman missed the green at No. 7 and made another bogey.

Suddenly, Langer, Lehman, Toledo and Montgomerie were tied for the lead at 2 under. Anything can happen on a course as severe as Dye’s treeless, windswept hilltop monster.

“There’s a potential double around every corner here,” said Montgomerie, who had a lone bogey Saturday. “Long day ahead tomorrow. There’s a seven-mile walk, and the emotions will go up and down like a roller coaster.”

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Tom Lehman started the second round of the Senior PGA Championship on the 10th tee Friday afternoon. He might as well have started it on a launch pad.

Lehman birdied three of his first four holes on French Lick Resort’s rigorous Pete Dye Course and kept right on going. He shot a 5-under 67 – matching the best round of the week – to take the lead at the halfway point of the Champions Tour’s second major championship of the year.

At 4 under, Lehman led his playing partner of the first two rounds, defending champion Colin Montgomerie, and Brian Henninger by a stroke. Montgomerie shot 69, and Henninger matched Lehman’s 67.

The severity of the course has caused some players to grumble about Dye, its designer. Not Lehman.

“Pete Dye courses, in general, I enjoy,” said Lehman, who hit 16 greens in regulation Friday. “I really enjoy his style of architecture. I like the way he thinks. I like the way he makes the player think.”

There have been only seven rounds in the 60s, all of which came with milder weather conditions prevailing Friday, when tournament officials trimmed more than 100 yards off the first-round setup, from 7,040 yards to 6,914.

Montgomerie relished the buzz of playing with the leader, and he wants more.

“We stood in there battling around,” Montgomerie said. “I’m going to play with him (again) tomorrow, probably in the last group, and I look forward to that.”

Lehman won the British Open in 1996 and the Senior PGA Championship in 2010 in Colorado. Montgomerie dominated the European Tour during the 1990s, topping the money list eight consecutive seasons. In addition to the Senior PGA, he won the U.S. Senior Open last year.

Esteban Toledo was 2 under after a 68. First-round leader Massy Kuramoto had a 72 to drop to fifth at 1 under. Peter Fowler, Woody Austin and Jean Francois Remesy were even par. Fowler birdied the final hole for a 67, Austin shot 71, and Remesy 72.

Henninger and Toledo were PGA Tour journeymen. Being situated so near the top of the leaderboard and doing it on so daunting course in a senior major was not lost on Toledo. It’s new ground.

“This is a different week,” said Toledo, a two-time winner in two-plus seasons on the Champions Tour. “This is a different tournament. This is different conditions. It’s probably one of the toughest I’ve seen.”

The early starters again went off with temperatures in the upper-40s but the sun shone brightly and the day warmed into the mid-70s, although wind made club selection difficult and misses frequent.

Toledo made five birdies and a lone bogey. The Mexican player has thrived on superior ball-striking, hitting 21 of 28 fairways and 26 of 36 greens in regulation.

Bernhard Langer, a 23-time winner on the Champions Tour, was 1 over after a 72.

The Dye Course’s severe slopes and radical bounces can get to a player. Mark Calcavecchia parred the 566-yard, par-5 ninth hole Friday, but it was anything but routine.

He broke two clubs.

Calcavecchia drove into the left rough and, after hitting a second shot he deemed unacceptable, broke his club over his knee. He missed the green with his third shot and snapped the shaft on that club by slamming it into the ground. Calcavecchia missed the cut, finishing at 14 over after a 77.

Rod Spittle was the lone Canadian to make the cut. The St. Catharine’s, Ont., native is 8 over and tied for 66th heading into the weekend.

FRENCH LICK, Ind. – Massy Kuramoto’s approach to the difficult Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort was simple.

“If I’m going to hit straight and hit the fairway, I can play 2 over, 3 over. I tried to play 1 over front nine, 1 over back nine,” he said, grinning, with both index fingers upraised.

Kuramoto did even better than that Thursday in the first round of the Senior PGA Championship.

He shot a 1-under 71 to take the lead.

Defending champion Colin Montgomerie, Billy Andrade, Barry Lane, Jean Francois Remesy and Bart Bryant were a shot back. Bernhard Langer, Tom Lehman and Scott Verplank were in the large group at 73 on a difficult day for golf.

The temperature was in the upper 40s for the early starters and it crept only to 60 as the sun finally broke through in late afternoon. Sweaters and rain jackets were the uniform of the day and scoring on the rugged Dye Course’s twisting fairways and small greens did not come easily.

With 17 major champions and seven World Golf Hall of Fame members in the field of 156 players, only 30 shot 74 or better.

“We’re old,” said Andrade, an early starter. “We’re old guys. When it gets cold, maybe we don’t hit it as far and as well. It’s a survival test.”

Peter Jacobsen knew the feeling.

“It felt like a British Open,” he said after scattering eight bogeys in an 80. “It’s cold. It starts to rain. There’s nowhere to miss the ball on this course.”

Andrade and Montgomerie sat atop the leaderboard nearly all day and they were more than content. It was a day for precision and patience. Montgomerie compared it to the rigors of a U.S. Open.

“I’m very rarely happy with a round of golf – ever,” Montgomerie said. “I’ve shot level par today and I’m very happy leaving here.”

The 59-year-old Kuramoto won 30 times on the Japan Tour, the second-most in that tour’s history. He tied for fourth in the 1982 British Open.

But he’s now chairman of the PGA of Japan. He has no time for practice. He plays only on the side, something he does well enough to have won the Japan Senior Open and one other event while competing in 11 Japan Senior Tour events in 2014.

He hit eight of 11 fairways and 11 greens in regulation Thursday, but scrambled to save par six of seven opportunities. He countered two bogeys with three birdies.

Kuramoto said he hasn’t played three consecutive days of golf since November.

“I don’t have the confidence at all,” Kuramoto said through an interpreter, wife Margie. “So I don’t think that I’m going to be able to keep the lead.”

Weather conditions are expected to ease. The predicted high is in the low 70s for Friday’s second round, climbing toward the low 80s by Sunday.

The challenge will remain.

The Dye Course is situated on a tall hilltop with Hoosier National Forest falling away in all directions. Its fairways plunge and soar over sharp slopes and afford all manner of risky shots and awkward lies. Its small greens are difficult targets and a poorly placed shot can roll off and well away.

The Senior PGA Championship is coming off venues that over the past three years permitted the lowest scoring in tournament history. The field averaged 73.040 for four rounds at Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 2012. The number was 72.78 at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis in 2013, and 73.018 back at Harbor Shores last year.

The field averaged 77.73 for the first round Thursday. There were 56 scores of 80 or higher.

Six players reached 2 under. None could hold on.

“Normally, I would be angry because I finished level par,” said one of them, Remesy, a Frenchman in his second season as a senior. “But I’m pleased to be here and pleased to be in contention.”

Three Canadians are in the field this week. Rod Spittle opened with a 5 over 77, Rick Gibson had a 78 and was 6 over, while Jim Rutledge carded a 79 to sit 7 over.