Rocco Mediate leads by one at SAS Championship

Rocco Mediate fired a 7-under 65 despite two bogeys to take the first-round lead at the PGA TOUR Champions SAS Championship at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary, North Carolina, on Friday.

Mediate, 59, leads Y.E. Yang by one shot. The Pennsylvania native overcame the bogeys with seven birdies and an eagle on the par-5 17th.

Mediate has four wins on PGA TOUR Champions but only one since 2016. His best finish this season is T8 at the Hoag Classic.

“I definitely would like to have another trophy sometime soon, that would be cool,” Mediate said. “It's so hard at any level. Getting off to a good start, huge. We'll see what we do with it the next two days, but it was great, it was great. Hitting my ball where I'm looking and, like I said, making putts. I made a bunch of good putts today and that's what it's all about.”

Mediate was second in the field in putting average for the first round. He had nothing but wonderful things to say about the golf course.

“The course is good; the course is perfect,” Mediate said. “The greens are ridiculously good. They're always good, but this year they're something -- they're just good. Everything's really good. …

“My point is, the golf course is perfect. They do a nice job here. It's got all kinds of cool shots. No wind. There's a little bit of wind, but nothing that really made a big difference, and I don't think it's going to blow all week, next two days I should say. So, I mean, if you drive in these fairways, you can do some damage.”

The South Korean Yang, in his rookie season, had seven birdies and one bogey en route to his 66. He has three top-10 finishes in 2022. Yang hadn’t seen Prestonwood before this week but said the course was in very good shape.

Tom Gillis, who came into the SAS in 68th place in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, battled his way to a 5-under 67 and sole possession of third. Gillis, 54, had six birdies and one bogey and is looking to solidify his spot in the playoffs.

“Well, I guess when you shoot 5 under, pretty much everything was going well,” Gillis said. “Putted good, hit some good iron shots, drove it in play. It was a solid day all the way.”

A host of players were tied for third at 4 under, eight in all, including past SAS Championship winners Jerry Kelly (2019) and Colin Montgomerie (2017) and 63-year-old Fred Couples, who overcame a double bogey on No. 1.

Charles Schwab Cup leader Steven Alker shot even-par 72 and was tied for 40th.

And 71-year-old Dick Mast, who got into the SAS field via a 65 in Monday qualifying, shot 6-over 78.