Billy Andrade used a late string of birdies to shoot a 7-under-par 65 and secure the first-round lead at the SAS Championship on Friday in Cary, N.C.
Andrade’s bogey-free card stood as the best round by afternoon’s end. Ireland’s Padraig Harrington checked in at 6-under 66, and Jerry Kelly birdied his last four holes to tie Matt Gogel for third at 5-under 67.
The regular-season finale at Prestonwood Country Club is the final chance for players to improve their standing before the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs. After Sunday’s final round, the top 72 players will qualify for the playoffs.
Woody Austin entered the week No. 73 in the Schwab Cup standings and helped his cause by shooting a 4-under 68 Friday. He’s tied for fifth with Sweden’s Robert Karlsson and South Korea’s Y.E. Yang and projects to jump to 61st in the standings if his current position holds.
As for the leader, Andrade had four birdies through 10 holes, then went quiet until No. 15, where he began a streak of three birdies in a row.
Andrade withdrew from the PURE Insurance Championship three weeks ago while dealing with a balky back. He said he has felt much better after treatment.
“Today was obviously a great day,” Andrade said. “Hit the ball nicely and made some nice putts and didn’t have any issues with my back, so I’m pretty excited about that.”
Harrington made his move on the back nine, where he shot 5-under 32 while also keeping his card bogey-free.
“I came in here pretty low on confidence, strangely,” Harrington said. “… Worked quite hard Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday here. It’s a lot tighter golf course than I’ve been playing the last couple of weeks. It puts me under a bit more pressure off the tee. As I said, you have to hit the fairways. So I wasn’t very confident at all, and maybe my low expectations helped.”
Steven Alker of New Zealand, No. 2 in the Schwab Cup standings, opened with a 3-under 69 and is tied for eighth. Schwab Cup leader Ernie Els of South Africa and third-place Stephen Ames of Canada both shot 2-under 70.
Australia’s Rod Pampling, the defending champion, struggled to a 2-over 74 Friday.
