TIM PRICE
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — John Cook and Marco Dawson shared the first-round lead at 7-under 65 on Friday in the Champions Tour’s AT&T Championship, the final full-field event of the season.
Scott Dunlap was a stroke back at TPC San Antonio, and Jay Haas was at 67 along with Guy Boros, Bart Bryant, Gary Hallberg, Tom Lehman, Peter Senior, Wes Short Jr., and Kirk Triplett. Haas won the Greater Hickory Kia Classic last week at 60 to become the 18th player to win a Champions Tour event at 60 or older.
With unseasonably warm temperatures rising beyond 85 degrees and little wind, TPC San Antonio’s Pete Dye-designed AT&T Canyons Course offered little defense to scoring.
“The wind was nil,” Cook said. “I think the hardest it blew was 2 (mph). And the best set of greens by far.”
Cook won the event in 2007 and 2008 at Oak Hills. The winner last month at Pebble Beach for his 10th Champions Tour title, he hit a 3-wood approach to a foot to set up an eagle on the par-5 second hole.
“We might be a little grayer and have softer stomachs, but our skills aren’t that different than 15 or 20 years ago,” Cook said, “and if you get ideal conditions, you get guys who like to compete, it’s still pretty good. We’ll shoot some scores.”
Dawson was in the first group of the day.
“First off, that’s always good,” Dawson said. “You’ve got fresh greens. Now, it’s just a matter of trying to make putts on the weekend.”
Dawson’s only victory in PGA Tour-sanctioned competition came in the Web.com Tour’s 2002 LaSalle Bank Open. He has been close this year, with a tie for third at the 3M Championship in August starting a run of four top-five finishes in five events.
The top 30 on the money list after the tournament will advance to the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship next week in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Bernard Langer, the Charles Schwab Cup points leader, opened with a 71. Langer has a tour-high five victories — two of them majors — and also leads the money list. Colin Montgomerie, second in the Schwab Cup standings, shot 68.
Defending champion Kenny Perry also had a 68.
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