CHAMPIONS TOUR Hatalsky chips way into one-shot lead

His opening round 65 included chip-ins on the fifth and eighth hole.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) -- A record-tying 65 -- built in part on two chip-ins -- gave Morris Hatalsky a one-stroke lead Friday after the first round of the Champions Tour event at Egypt Valley Country Club.
"I would say that's unusual for just about anyone on the planet to chip in twice in one day," Hatalsky said.
He matched the best first-round tournament score, posted by Bob Gilder in 2001. Hatalsky was 7 under and a shot ahead of five other players in the $1.5 million Farmers Charity Classic.
He chipped in from 25 feet for a birdie on the 434-yard, par-4 fifth hole and did it from 30 feet on the 153-yard, par-3 eighth.
"That chip on five got me started," Hatalsky said.
But his best hole was neither the fifth nor the eighth. A 4-wood carried him within 8 feet of the cup on the seventh, and he ran in his putt for an eagle.
"I had some good fortune out there today," Hatalsky said. "Today was a day for scoring, because for the most part the weather was perfect."
Tied for second
Ed Dougherty, Bruce Fleisher, Hubert Green, Tom Wargo and Mike Smith carded 66s. John Jacobs and Eamonn Darcy were two shots off the pace and six players were three shots back.
More than half the field of 80 players broke par, and that didn't surprise Hatalsky.
"This was a golf course to be attacked," he said. "I made my share of putts, but I like the golf course. It has some leniency off the tee, but off some of the tees you have position yourself well."
A four-time winner on the PGA Tour, the 51-year-old Hatalsky took five years off from competitive golf in his late 40s. Last year, in his inaugural season on the Champions Tour, he won the Uniting Fore Care Classic and finished second here, two strokes behind Jay Sigel.
Hatalsky had the only bogey-free tournament this season when he won the Columbus Southern Open last month.
"The greens are firm and getting pretty quick," Hatalsky said of the Egypt Valley, which played to 6,960 yards Friday. "I would venture to say that the golf course will probably get firmer, especially around the greens. The wind will probably dictate what the scores will do."
Fleisher, fifth in Champions Tour earnings with more than $700,000 this season, strung together four birdies on the back nine en route to his 66.
"I haven't played that well, but I've gutted it out," Fleisher said. "Today, I surely didn't drive the ball very well. (Saturday) I could drive the ball well and only shoot 1-under."