South Africa's Chris Williams carded a four under par first round of 67 to sit just one shot behind leader Stuart Smith at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship.
The 59 year old, who finished second on the Staysure Tour Order of Merit in 2017, started his round with a birdie on the first hole, and then reached three under par after the eighth hole.
He then birdied the 12th and kept a clean card as he came in bogey free. Smith, a PGA Club Professional, set the early pace after reaching seven under par, but double bogeyed the last to drop to five under.
"I was very nervous when I was teeing off," admitted Williams. "But I hit my second shot to six inches and it was one of the best starts I've ever had. I started to relax a little bit and then my game started coming through. I played steady golf all day.
"I hit a lot of good shots and good recovery shots. It was very nice not to have any bogeys; that doesn't happen often on such a tough course like this.
"The course is playing its full length. There was no run on any drives out there, maybe three feet at the most."
Stephen Dodd carded a two under par first round of 69 for a share of tenth place. Mardan Mamat and Tim Thelen share 22nd after their one under par rounds.
