Darren Clarke is nine shots off the pace after the opening round of the Regions Tradition on the PGA TOUR Champions.
Clarke carded a level-par 72 to leave him in a share of 44th place and with work to do over the next three days if he is to get back into contention for his second senior major win.
A tough front nine saw Clarke drop shots at the par-5 2nd and par-4 9th but he did rally with two birdies in three holes on the 11th and 13th.
A second six of the day on the par-5 15th put the 2011 Open champion back in the black and he finished the day with a flourish as he birdied the last.
Australian Richard Green leads the way by two shots on nine-under after an opening 63.
Green was imperious through his first eleven holes, rolling in six birdies before ramping through the back nine with an eagle on 13 and a birdie on the 14th.
His only dropped shot came on 16 but he got it back with a closing birdie and he holds the advantage over a host of players on seven-under including Steven Alker, Jerry Kelly, Stewart Cink and Charlie Wi.
“Yeah, jeez, everything was going well. I started really nicely, hit it really close a lot during the round. Just been a bit of a result of a lot of work. You know, last week, had the week off last week and then this week with my coach Brownie’s here with me and we’ve been working away on things to sharpen up things. It’s nice to see it sort of — you know, the stuff that’s been brewing for a long time sort of come out a little bit today, it’s good.”
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