Alex Cejka of Germany, Mark Hensby of Australia and Rob Labritz are tied for the first-round lead after one round of the Invited Celebrity Classic on Friday in Irving, Texas.
Cejka has won twice on the PGA Tour Champions — both majors, three weeks apart in May 2021. He has yet to find the winner’s circle since, while Hensby and Labritz are both hunting for their first win on tour.
The trio has a one-shot lead over David Toms, Kirk Triplett and South Africans Retief Goosen and David Frost, who shot 4-under 67 at Las Colinas Country Club.
Cejka poured in six birdies and limited himself to one bogey, but he was happiest with some crucial par saves that kept him afloat.
“I had a couple 6-footers, I want to say two, three 6-footers for par that I made that kept my momentum going,” Cejka said. “You miss one or two of those, you’re back to 1 under instead of being 3 or 4 under, so that was the key.”
Hensby sandwiched his round with birdies at the par-4 first and par-5 18th holes, finishing with seven in all to counteract two bogeys.
“Last year I played the first round here and didn’t play too well and then played good the second round,” Hensby said. “But no, I think the greens are so good, and if you drive it in play, you get a lot of birdie chances.”
The only co-leader to stay bogey-free was Labritz, who got onto the tour in 2021 via its qualifying school.
“I’m living the dream right now,” Labritz said. “I’m working my tail off to make myself better at golf every day, whether it be in the gym, whether it be what I think, what I eat, what I don’t drink. I’m just trying to be the best player that I can be, and I actually have the opportunity to do that now. I’m not going to leave any stone unturned.”
Scott Parel, the defending champion, was part of a massive tie for eighth at 3-under 68 that also featured Bob Estes, Australians Rod Pampling and Stuart Appleby and South Korea’s Y.E. Yang.
The event, formerly called the ClubCorp Classic, now features a celebrity pro-am division. Former MLB pitcher Mark Mulder is plus-37 in the modified Stableford scoring system to lead the celebrities. Longtime NHL star Jeremy Roenick is second at plus-35, and LPGA legend Annika Sorenstam is tied with former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo for third at plus-34.
–Field Level Media