AKRON, Ohio, June 6 (UPI) -- While most of the attention was focused on the dream threesome of Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, it was a former club pro who stole some of the thunder at the Senior PGA Championship Thursday.
Ted Goin birdied the final three holes to fire a 2-under par 68 to gain a share of the first-round lead with Tom Kite and journeyman Mike Smith at the Firestone Country Club.
Smith, who never won during his 25 years on the PGA Tour, sank a a 12-foot birdie putt on the final hole.
Winless in his second year on the Senior Tour, the 52-year-old Goin was 2-over after seven holes. But the former pro at The Plantation in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., recovered to post one of only seven sub-par rounds.
Overnight rains softened the greens at the 6,927-yard course but made the rough more difficult.
The only other players to break par were Watson, the defending champion, Wayne Levi, Fuzzy Zoeller and Jim Thorpe, who all carded 1-under 69s.
The first round of the tournament produced a crowded leaderboard as 25 players are within four shots of the lead. Eleven players were at even, including Senior Tour mainstays Larry Nelson and Bruce Fleisher.
Among the big names at 71 were Jack Nicklaus, Hale Irwin and Raymond Floyd. Nicklaus has returned to the site of one of his record 18 major titles, having captured the 1975 PGA Championship at Firestone.
Watson, who last year won the event at Ridgewood Country Club in New Jersey, claimed the World Series of Golf at Firestone in 1980 for one of his 34 PGA Tour titles.
