CHAMPIONS

• Nielsen leads Senior Players Championship

  
  

  Timonium, MD (Sports Network) - Lonnie Nielsen fired a five-under 65 on Thursday to take the first-round lead of the Senior Players Championship, the fifth and final major on the Champions Tour.

  Tour stars Tom Watson and Jay Haas are knotted in second place at minus-four at Baltimore Country Club East Course.

  Sandy Lyle bogeyed the last for a three-under 67 and is alone in fourth.

  Nielsen broke into red figures with an eight-foot birdie putt at two. He made it two in a row thanks to another eight-footer at three, but parred the long, par-five fourth.

  At the fifth, Nielsen sank a 15-footer for birdie and followed with a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 6. He missed the par-three seventh green off the tee and it led to a bogey after a poor pitch.

  Nielsen appeared to have a tough putt at the ninth, but his long birdie effort found the bottom of the cup.

  "Got a break at No. 9," admitted Nielsen. "I thought I was looking at a three- putt." Nielsen started his back nine with a good par save at 10. He drained a 15-foot birdie putt at 12, but landed in a greenside bunker at 13 and missed an eight- footer for par.

  The error at 13 led to a strong run for Nielsen. He hit a seven-iron to six feet to set up birdie at the 14th, which gave him the lead. Nielsen padded the cushion to two after a beautiful six-iron to five feet at the par-three 15th.

  Nielsen lost a stroke at the 17th. He hit a terrible drive into a bunker and could never recover. Nielsen made bogey and although he missed the fairway again at 18, he saved par for the first-round lead.

  "All in all, a wonderful day for me and those eight birdies were good," said Nielsen, who had 25 putts on Thursday. "The key today was a lot of putts uphill." Nielsen has enjoyed something of an odd 2009 season. He won the Dicks Sporting Goods Open in late June, but since, has one top 20 and that was a tie for 19th at the Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach almost a month ago.

  "It's been a couple of tough months since I won," acknowledged Nielsen, who has broken 70 now five times since his victory. "I've tended to get down on myself. Confidence has tended to be fragile recently." Confidence isn't something lacking in the two players behind him.

  Watson may not have won this year on the Champions Tour, but he has top-eight finishes at three of the previous four majors. Plus, there was the matter of his incredible run at the British Open, where, at the age of 59, he almost walked off with a sixth claret jug.

  On Thursday, Watson holed an eight-foot par save at one and made a long birdie putt at two.

  "Making that putt at No. 2, it gets you off on the right foot," said Watson. "It kind of opens the door." Watson rattled off three more front-nine birdies. He made one birdie and one bogey on the second nine, but things were a little shaky at the end of his round.

  Watson missed a seven-foot birdie chance at 16, saved a nice par from five feet on 17, but pushed a little three-footer for birdie at the last.

  "You can get some tough putts on these greens," said Watson, a two-time runner-up at this championship. "Very happy how I played." Haas netted three birdies on the front side, but vaulted to the top of the leaderboard in the middle of his second nine.

  He hit a six-iron to a foot for an easy birdie at 13, then had another kick-in birdie at 14. Haas collected his third birdie in a row with a 12-footer at No. 15 and was in the lead at minus-six.

  The driver let Haas down in the end. He hit a greenside bunker at 17 and the right rough at 18 and bogeyed both to lose his chance at sole possession of first.

  "Really played well," said Haas, who won two weeks ago at the Greater Hickory Classic.

  "Missed a couple of fairways at the end and you can't do that out here." Bob Tway, Dan Forsman, Eduardo Romero and Tradition winner Mike Reid are knotted in fifth at two-under 68.

  Defending champion D.A. Weibring struggled to a four-over 74 on Thursday.

  10/01 17:23:45 ET