Pernice Open Strong

Although he won on the Champions Tour last month, Tom Pernice, Jr. still hopes to play a full schedule on the Champions Tour.

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Champions Tour winner Tom Pernice Jr. shot a bogey-free 9-under 62 on Thursday for a share of the first-round lead with Troy Matteson and Spencer Levin in the PGA Tour's Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

The 50-year-old Pernice, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour who won the SAS Championship on Sept. 27 in his Champions Tour debut, birdied his final two holes -- Nos. 8 and 9 -- at TPC Summerlin. Levin had an eagle and seven birdies in his bogey-free round, and Matteson, the 2006 winner, had nine birdies and an eagle.

Bob Heintz and Martin Laird were a stroke back, and three-time Las Vegas winner Jim Furyk matched Scott Piercy at 64. Furyk bogeyed his first two holes.

Tim Petrovic, Kirk Triplett, Briny Baird, Robert Garrigus and Jeff Klauk shot 65s.