Dan Forsman, who earned his first Champions Tour win earlier this year, carded a seven-under 65 Friday to take a one-stroke lead after the
opening round of the Regions Charity Classic. Forsman, who won the AT&T Champions Classic, had a pair of hot stretches that carried him to the top of the leaderboard. He posted his first birdie, on a four-foot putt, at the par-three second and followed with birdies on three and four from 15 and 12 feet, respectively. The 50-year-old moved to minus-four with a two-putt birdie on the sixth, but gave that stroke back when he bogeyed the par-three ninth at the Ross Bridge Golf Resort & Spa. Forsman atoned for that mistake with a birdie on the 11th that got him back to minus-four. He birdied the next par-three, No. 14, then birdied 15 and 16 to jump into the lead at seven-under. Forsman parred the final three to end there. “I am very pleased to shoot 65 on this course. The greens are really good here and receptive too,” Forsman said. “A lot of good things happened today. I knew it was going to be a good day after my birdie at No. 6.” Mize poured in three birdies in a four-hole span from the third. Around the turn, the 1987 Masters winner collected three more birdies to close out a bogey-free round. “No fives on the card I played really solid,” Mize said. “It was a good day to score.”
Sutton did most of his damage on the back nine. After a birdie on 11, his second hole, Sutton converted four straight birdie chances from the 14th to head to the front nine at minus-five.