ESPN Golf

SAN ANTONIO -- Fred Funk got off to a fast start in his third career Champions Tour start, shooting a 6-under 65 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the AT&T Championship.

The 50-year-old Funk, a seven-time winner on the PGA Tour who has made 24 of 28 cuts on the regular tour this year, had six birdies in his bogey-free round on the Oak Hills Country Club course. The 2005 Players Championship winner admits he's still trying to adjust to being the favorite at Champions Tour events.

"It's something that's different for me, and I'm trying to minimize the pressure," he said. "Back when I was playing at the Mid-Atlantic Sectional, I was the guy to beat every day. But not on the PGA Tour."

Scott Simpson, Dan Pohl and R.W. Eaks opened with 66s; Raymond Floyd, Tom McKnight, Mike McCullough, Lonnie Nielsen and Keith Fergus shot 67s; and Loren Roberts, Craig Stadler and Hale Irwin topped a group at 68.

Defending champion Jay Haas, coming off a victory in the rain-shortened Administaff Small Business Classic in Spring, had a 70. Haas, tied with Roberts for the tour lead with four wins, also won the PGA Tour's Texas Open in 1982 and 1993 at Oak Hills.

Funk tied for 11th in his two previous starts on the 50-and-over tour, the U.S. Senior Open and Senior Players Championship in July. He also had a runner-up finish in April in the PGA Tour's Zurich Classic.

He saw a leaderboard on the 17th fairway and noticed he was in a four-way tie for the lead. He then hit a sand wedge to 10 feet and made the birdie putt to pull ahead.

"I knew I needed it for the lead at the time," he said, "but that didn't mean anything. I just wanted to make birdie."

The weather was close to perfect -- 75 degrees and sunny with little wind. And under those conditions, 42 players in the field of 78 finished below par.

Eaks' round Friday was highlighted by two screaming 2-iron shots from the trees after errant drives on par-5s. He birdied both holes.

"They came out of there about quail high," he said.

Pohl is scheduled to have knee surgery in a week.

"It's been very demoralizing for me this year dealing with the mental side of injuries," he said.

Simpson nearly had a hole-in-one on the par-3 18th, with his ball stopping seven inches from the cup.

"It landed 10 feet short," he said. "The people down there around the green kept yelling, 'Go! Go! Go!' I could see it almost went in."

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press