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SAVANNAH, Ga. - Tom Watson and Andy
North have been partners in victory before on the Champions Tour.
This time, however, it means a lot more.
Watson and North teamed to birdie the
first seven holes en route to a better-ball 13-under 59 on Friday
for a three-shot lead after the first round of the Liberty Mutual
Legends of Golf tournament at The Club at Savannah Harbor.
"For a while there, we said,
'Let's birdie them all,'" North said. "That's sort of what
you have to do. You make three pars in an event like this and eight
teams go past you."
During the opening run of birdies,
Watson sank a 25-foot putt at No. 3 and North chipped in at the
sixth.
"You have to make a lot of
birdies to win this thing," Watson said. "You'll probably
have to shoot about 62 every day."
Watson, who won the Outback
Steakhouse Pro-Am last week in Florida, shot a 62 with his own ball
and picked up twice when makable birdie putts were not needed. He
made the team's final birdie with an 8-foot putt on the par-3 17th.
The teams of R.W. Eaks and Bob
Gilder, Keith Fergus and Wayne Levi, Morris Hatalsky and Don Pooley
plus John Cook and Joey Sindelar, were 10 under on the island course
in the middle of the Savannah River.
Watson and North, who have played 126
consecutive holes together without a bogey, teamed to win the
Raphael Division the last three years, but it was always unofficial
money. Not any more.
The Legends Division of the
tournament, an individual affair since 2002, switched back to team
play this year and declared the earnings would be official money in
the annual rankings. Several players like Watson and North jumped
right in.
"I've campaigned for this for
years," North said. "A lot of players wanted this. It's a
lot of fun. And a look at how strong this field is shows I was
right."
Their 59 was the best best-ball score
ever on this course. The record on the 50-and-over circuit is 58 at
Barton Creek Country Club in Austin, Texas, by Al Geiberger and
Harold Henning in 1991.
In the Raphael Division, Bob Charles
and Stewart Ginn shot 10 under for a one- stroke lead over Tony
Jacklin and Larry Laoretti.
The Legends of Golf was first played
in 1978 at Onion Creek Country Club in Austin, Texas, and is
considered the event that launched the Senior PGA Tour, now called
the Champions Tour. It was all team play until 2002, but always
unofficial money. The tournament was played in four cities and on
eight courses before coming to Savannah in 2003.
Notes:@ Jay Haas, the individual
winner last year, teamed with Curtis Strange. They shot a 66. ...
The Cook-Sindelar team eagled the par-5 fourth. ... The team of Lee
Trevino and Mike Hill eagled the par-4 sixth. ... Gilder said he
felt some of the tees were moved up more than they needed to be.
"I think somebody said something (to tournament
officials)," Gilder said. "We don't need two 600-yard
par-5s out here. So, they might have moved the tees up because of
that." The course played at 7,086 yards last year, 344 yards
longer than this time.
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