Dick Mast leads Champions Tour’s Montreal Championship after first round

SAINTE-JULIE, Que. – Dick Mast shot a 3-under 69 on Friday to grab the first-round lead at the $1.6 million Montreal Championship.

Mast opened with three straight birdies on a windy day at Vallee du Richelieu that saw gusts up to 50 kilometres per hour on the Rouville Course.

It is the first time Mast has had an outright lead in 165 Champions Tour starts.

Kenny Perry finished one stroke back with a 70. Perry, who holds a commanding lead over Bernhard Langer in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, fired three straight birdies on the 14th, 15th and 16th holes to finish 2 under.

Langer bogeyed the No. 18 to drop back into a four-way tie for third with a 71. Mark Brooks, Mike Reid and Tom Pernice are also tied for third at 1 under.

Rocco Mediate, who recorded his second Champions Tour win Sunday at the inaugural Shaw Charity Classic in Calgary, had six bogeys on his way to a 3-over 75.

Rod Spittle of Niagara Falls, Ont., shot a 72 for the best finish of the three Canadians in the field. He is in an eight-way tie for eighth place.

Victoria’s Jim Rutledge shot a 76, while Marc Girouard of Saint-Sauveur, Que., had four double-bogeys to finish with a 78.