Pernice atop Leaderboard at Charles Schwab Cup Championship


Tom Pernice Jr. opened with a 5-under 65 to take the 18-hole lead at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. The $2.5 million, 72-hole event - the season-ender on the Champions Tour - began Thursday on the Cochise Course at the Desert Mountain Club in Scottsdale, Ariz.

After carding a birdie on the front nine, the 55-year-old Pernice got warmed up on the back, posting five birdies and a bogey. The Kansas City native is up by a stroke over Joe Durant, Kenny Perry, Jay Haas and Bernhard Langer.

Champions Tour rookie Durant, a four-time PGA Tour winner in search of his first title on the over-50 circuit, opened with a birdie, an eagle on the par-5 eighth and a bogey on the par-4 ninth to make the turn in 2-under 33. He tacked on three more birdies - with his only dropped shot coming on the par-4 12th - for another 33.

Haas had five birdies and a bogey, while Perry posted six birdies and a pair of bogeys. Langer went out with four birdies for a 31, but on the home half he shot even-par on the par-70 layout.

Langer has already wrapped up the Charles Schwab Cup points title; the 57-year-old German, a five-time winner this year, completed that task by finishing tied for sixth in last week's AT&T Championship.

Yet the World Golf Hall of Fame member and 23-time Champions Tour winner still believes he has much to play for in Arizona. ''In the past, I was always either leading or second or third and there was still a lot to play for,'' Langer said Wednesday. ''There's still a lot to play for because we're playing for a lot of money, but the Charles Schwab Cup is wrapped up and that's great news for me.

"So, I can go out there and play as aggressive as you'll ever see me play probably because I have nothing to lose at all and everything to gain.''

Trailing Pernice by three in the 30-player tournament are Billy Andrade, Olin Browne, Russ Cochran and Gene Sauers.

Michael Allen, coming off a victory in the AT&T Championship, began with a 69.

Fred Couples, who on Wednesday during the tournament's pro-am noted he'd be willing to serve as the captain of a future U.S. Ryder Cup team, carded a 1-over 71. The 55-year-old Seattle native is the defending champion at Scottsdale.

Couples said on the eve of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship that the PGA of America, which oversees the U.S. Ryder Cup team, he believes the association is over-analyzing things with its recent establishment of a task force to probe what's been ailing the Americans, who've lost three straight times in the biennial competition against the Europeans, including late last month at Gleneagles in Scotland.

"I don't think anyone should panic. I don't think we need a 'task force,' " Couples said while gesturing air quotes. "I don't think we need the PGA of America straining about this. What I really think they need is to get players that have been on a lot of these teams to get a feel for what kind of captain they need."

For all the scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/champions/leaderboard.html.