Austin, TX (My Sportsbook) - Bernhard Langer birdied the final hole Friday en route to a seven-under-par 65 and the opening-round lead of the Triton Classic.

Langer, the leading money winner on the Champions Tour, is one stroke ahead of David Eger and two in front of Mike McCullough at the Hills Course at the Hills Golf Club.

Eger, McCullough and the whole field are looking up at the man they are looking up at on both the money list and the year-long Charles Schwab Cup Standings.

Langer got off to a solid start with three consecutive pars. He first broke into red figures with a birdie at the par-four fourth, but closed his round well enough to vault up the leaderboard.

The two-time Masters champion birdied the par-five sixth hole to get to minus- two, but what followed was spectacular. Langer birdied the next three holes for four in a row and he made the turn at minus-five, which was one shot off first.

Things fell apart pretty quickly on the second nine.

Langer missed the green with a five-iron at the par-three 11th. He chipped to five feet and his par putt stayed above ground, knocking him to minus-four for the championship.

Three holes later, Langer got the stroke back, then at No. 16, the German collected another birdie to reach six-under par.

Langer had quite a bumpy finish for a first-round leader.

At the 17th, Langer drove his tee shot into water. After a penalty drop, he went for the green with a three-wood from 270 yards out. His ball landed 30 feet from the stick and Langer two-putted for an unlikely par.

The Hills Course at The Hills Country Club closes with a 178-yard, par-three. Langer hit a seven-iron to 15 feet and holed the birdie effort to move past Eger into first.

"I hit a lot of greens and fairways today," said Langer, already a two-time winner this season. "I played well in the Pro-Am yesterday. I birdied the last seven holes in yesterday's Pro-Am. This is a very narrow, tight course. You really have to think your way around the course. It's a shot-makers golf course."

Mark O'Meara, Mark Wiebe, Mark James, Dana Quigley, Tom Kite, Jeff Sluman and Larry Mize, the runner-up at the Senior PGA Championship, are knotted in fourth place at minus-four.

Mark McNulty, a playoff winner last week, shot a three-under 69 in the opening round and is part of a group tied for 11th place.

Defending champion Denis Watson struggled badly on Friday. He finished with a birdie, six bogeys and a double-bogey for a seven-over 79. Watson is tied for 76th out of 79 players who teed it up in round one.