ESPN.com - Golf Online - Brask basks in Bank One spotlight

Associated Press
Friday, September 22

DALLAS -- Bill Brask, a longtime club pro in his first full season on the Senior Tour, shot an 8-under 64 on Friday to take the first-round lead in the Bank One Senior Championship.


	Bill Brask's best finish on the Senior Tour was a tie for fifth at the Toshiba Classic in March.

Brask, who was in the second group of the day, holed a 25-foot birdie chip on the first hole to start his bogey-free round that included only 27 putts on Bent Tree Country Club's quick greens.

"The wind wasn't a factor for us, and we beat the 90-degree heat," said Brask, who topped the leaderboard for the first time in his senior career after his best round of the year.

He finished fifth in March at the Toshiba Senior Classic for his best senior finish and has managed to bank $366,000 to rank 42nd on the money list. The top 31 will be fully exempt for the 2001 season.

"That's what I'm shooting for, that top 31," he said.

Brask, a two-time All-American at the University of Minnesota, made 28 starts on the regular PGA Tour in the early 1970s before losing his card and touring Asia where he won five times. He was a club pro at Olympic Hills in Eden Prairie, Minn., when he qualified for the Senior Tour in 1999.

"I wasn't good enough to stick on the regular tour," Brask said. "I'm learning to be more competitive. I think I'm getting better as a player."

Kermit Zarley, who has been battling back problems, had nine birdies and two bogeys for a 65 on the fast-running course that has gone 85 consecutive days without rain. Brown patches showed in places where the sprinklers couldn't reach and 295-yard drives were common on the baked fairways.

Zarley withdrew from his last event because of back trouble.

"I have two deteriorating discs in my back," Zarley said. "My back has been bothering me for about 25 years now."

Lee Trevino, Bob Murphy, Jim Albus, Doug Tewell, John Morgan and Jose Maria Canizares opened with 66s.

The birdie-fest found John Bland, Jesse Patino, Gil Morgan, Mike Hill, Larry Nelson, Jim Thorpe, and Hugh Baiocchi all posting 67s.

Defending champion Tom Watson three-putted twice on his way to a 2-under 70. Watson had rounds of 67, 67 and 62 last year for his only senior title.

Tom Kite, who has never won a professional tournament in his home state of Texas, bogeyed the last hole to shoot a 68. Bruce Fleisher, the tour's top money winner, also shot a 68.

Divots

Brask's previous low was a 65 last month in the Novell Utah Showdown.

Gil Morgan extended his string of consecutive sub-par rounds to 22.

Nelson posted his 24th straight round of par of better, leaving him three shy of the senior record held by Trevino, Ray Floyd and Bruce Summerhays.