PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Rod Pampling eagled the par-5 18th at Pebble Beach on Friday for a 5-under 67 and a share of the Pure Insurance Championship lead in his PGA Tour Champions debut.
Pampling, the Australian who turned 50 on Monday, had three birdies in a six-hole stretch on the front nine, then made 11 straight pars before the closing eagle. He won the last of his three PGA Tour titles in 2017.
“It was just solid,” Pampling said. “I played nice golf early on, and then obviously on the last, I just made a nice one for eagle. It was just solid golf, nothing extraordinary, just made a couple of nice putts.”
Joey Sindelar joined Pampling atop the leaderboard late in the afternoon. Fifteen players were 4 under, with Bernhard Langer, Retief Goosen, Marco Dawson, Steve Jones, Doug Barron, Russ Cochran, Paul Goydos, Jerry Kelly and Tom Lehman shooting 67 at Poppy Hills, and three-time champion Steve Flesch, David Frost, Greg Kraft, Kent Jones, Gene Sauers and Scott Parel shooting 68 at Pebble Beach.
Pampling and Sindelar will play Poppy Hills on Saturday, then return to Pebble Beach on Sunday for the final round in the event that pairs a PGA Tour Champions player with a junior from The First Tee programs around the country.
The 61-year-old Sindelar is winless on the 50-and-over tour after winning nine PGA Tour titles.
Charles Schwab Cup leader Scott McCarron had a 69 at Poppy Hills.