Retief Goosen carded an opening five-under-par 67 on Friday in the PGA Tour Champions TimberTech Championship being played in Boca Raton, Florida.
He made six birdies and a bogey. That put him in a share of ninth with 11 other players, three strokes behind the lead held by John Daly and Jim Furyk. Duffy Waldorf, Scott Parel, Bernhard Langer and Robert Karlsson were one shot off the pace on seven-under.
Ernie Els made five birdies and two bogeys as he signed for a three-under 69 for a share of 27th, while David Frost made four birdies and three bogeys for his 71 and a share of 56th.
Playing in his fourth event since revealing he has bladder cancer, Daly turned back the clock as he had his lowest round on the PGA Tour Champions circuit. The two-time major champion won his lone title in 2017 in Houston.
“Just tired all the time, just something the doc told me I’d be,” Daly said. “Trying to drink the right stuff, but it’s hard to take Diet Coke away from me. I was proud of myself, I only smoked six cigarettes today. Usually I smoke about a pack and a half.”
Daly eagled the par-five 18th – hitting a seven-iron to 12 feet – for a first-nine 31 on The Old Course at Broken Sound. He finished the round with a bogey on the par-four ninth.
“I just hit it really good,” Daly said. “The bad drives that I did hit, I could find it, hit it. I just putted really, really good. … The putter felt really, really good today and these greens are so good, that if you get on a little roll, it helps. You could see by the scores, a lot of low scores today.”
With reporting from PGA Tour
