Trio top leaderboard with 65's

John Senden closed his 7-under 65 with his second eagle of the round and shared the lead with Harrison Frazar and Glen Day after the first round of the Southern Farm Bureau Classic on Thursday.

Frazar birdied his last two holes and Day had birdies on four of his first seven at the 7,199-yard Annandale Golf Club course.

Senden double-bogeyed No. 2, a 213-yard par 3, but he evened that on the 407-yard 10th when he holed his second shot from 129 yards with a 9-iron. After reaching the 532-yard, par-5 18th in two, the Australian made the 6-foot eagle putt to move into the tie for the lead.

"I knew I was playing well enough to not let (the double bogey) affect me," said Senden, whose best finish this year was ninth at the Bank of America Colonial.

"I've been playing well enough just to continue it on and deal with it," he added. "It's mental, and you've got to learn to take the ups and the downs."

Brothers Brenden and Deane Pappas were both at 66 along with Loren Roberts, Bill Glasson, David Sutherland and Patrick Sheehan. Five golfers were another stroke back.

A burned-out Frazar took three weeks off before this weekend's event.

"The golf course was there for the taking," Frazar said. "I hit a couple pretty good shots when I needed to and made some good puts. I feel like I got what I deserved today. I feel I played at that level (and) I can take a lot of confidence into the next three days."

After three top-10 finishes in his first five tournaments this year, Frazar finished no higher than 11th in 16 events since March.

"I made some mistakes in my scheduling, played not too much but I played too frequently," Frazar said. "I didn't give myself enough of a break."

Day, who birdied three straight holes early and finished his round with another on 18, failed to make the cut in three of his last five events.

He was 42nd at the 84 Lumber Classic last weekend and hasn't finished better than 19th this year.

"I made some shots early and that kind of got me going, and I felt very comfortable," Day said. "I have been playing good. I have not been scoring as I'd like, but today I got the scores."

The Pappas brothers said they haven't been in contention at the same tournament in nearly a decade.

"Either one of us could use a victory," said Brenden Pappas, who made a 42-foot birdie putt on No. 8.

The brothers are both winless on the TOUR, but they have each recently finished second at Annandale.

"A golf course can do that for you sometimes," Frazar said. "You get some confidence and you just can't wait to get back on it."

Brenden Pappas finished at 19-under 269 last year, one stroke behind John Huston. Deane Pappas was second to Luke Donald in 2002.

"We decided that if we were in a playoff together that we'd just have to keep ending all square until the TOUR decided to let us split the championship and give us each 2-year exemptions," Brenden Pappas said.

Huston, the defending champion, shot a 69.

David Duval and Paul Azinger had 71s, while Corey Pavin had a 72.

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