Published on May 24, 2018

Lane and Lonard Share First Round Lead at KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship

BENTON HARBOR, MI – MAY 24: Barry Lane of England hits his tee shot on the seventh hole during the first round of the Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid at the Golf Club at Harbor Shores on May 24, 2018 in Benton Harbor, Michigan. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Barry Lane, a member of Europe’s 1993 Ryder Cup team, carded a five under par round of 66 to share the first round lead at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, the second Senior Major of the 2018 season.

The Englishman, a six-time winner on the Staysure Tour, adding to five victories on the European Tour, made the turn at Harbor Shores Golf Club four under par and made two further gains on the back nine after a bogey on the first hole, his tenth.

He shares the lead with Australia’s Peter Lonard – who finished third at last year’s Senior Open Presented by Rolex – Senior Major champion Scott McCarron, Tim Petrovic, Wes Short Jr., and PGA Club Professional Stuart Smith.

Lane said, “I’ve been playing really well for a while, really. I played really well but I was a bit too aggressive, so I was hitting balls by the flag and bouncing them into the bank with wedges, so I was a bit disappointed. But I had played really well the other week in Texas and didn’t really putt very well. 

“But we had two weeks out here and I practiced really hard every day on the putting and wasn’t really much better until yesterday afternoon when Camilla said, it looks like you’re strangling a snake, so just grip it a little bit lighter. And it just freed me up. It’s all about just literally the first three days getting yourself, if you can get yourself in with a chance.”

Chris Williams, runner-up on the 2017 Staysure Tour Order of Merit, kept pace with Smith, who set the early clubhouse target, with a four under par first round – his lowest in seven appearances at the Senior PGA Championship.

Fellow former Order of Merit runner-up Magnus P Atlevi, who finished second to Paul Broadhurst on the money list in 2016, recovered from a three-over par start after six holes to finish his round three under par.

The Swede, a former Staysure Tour Rookie of the Year, shares ninth place with 14 other golfers.

Simon Brown, Stephen Dodd, Colin Montgomerie, Jarmo Sandelin and Vijay Singh carded first rounds of 69, two under par.

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