Charles Schwab Cup Championship 2006

Jim Thorpe was back in his familiar spot atop a Champions Tour leaderboard in wine country Thursday, taking a one-stroke lead over Tom Kite with a 6-under 66 in the opening round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Thorpe, who won the season-ending tournament in 2003 and owns titles in two additional Northern California events, holed a 70-yard wedge shot for an eagle on the second hole. He rode that momentum to the early lead, with a $2.5 million purse and several season-ending awards still up for grabs among the field of the tour's 29 top players.

Thorpe loves the straightforward holes and temperate weather at Sonoma Golf Club, and he parlayed his familiarity with the course into another strong start.

"There's just something about it," said Thorpe, who won both the now-defunct Transamerica and the Gold Rush Classic at nearby courses in 2000. "I've always played pretty well on the West Coast for some reason. I think the ball runs toward the (San Francisco) Bay."

Craig Stadler and Bob Gilder finished two strokes back at 68, while Schwab Cup standings leader Jay Haas was among six players four strokes behind, including defending champion Tom Watson and Hale Irwin.

Haas and Loren Roberts are the only players with a shot at the $1 million annuity awarded to the winner of the Schwab Cup's season-long points competition. Roberts shot a 71, and almost everyone still is in contention for the tournament's $440,000 first prize.

Count Thorpe and Kite among the tour stalwarts who think Sonoma is a perfect spot for the tour's finish -- and not just because players get to enjoy world-class wine and dining after every round.

"We play a lot of great venues, but this is probably the best golf course we play all year long," Thorpe said. "If you come in here not playing well, this golf course can eat you up, but if you're playing well, you can make a lot of birdies."

Thorpe did just that, following up his dramatic eagle with three more birdies on the front nine. He added two more after the turn, hitting just 23 putts all day -- and finally seeing improvement in the putting problems that have dogged the 57-year-old Thorpe all season.

Kite played three dynamite holes around the turn to keep himself in contention early in a tournament where he blew a five-stroke lead on the final day to Mark McNulty in 2004. Kite holed a wedge shot form 57 yards for an eagle on the ninth, then birdied the 10th before adding another eagle on a 97-yard wedge shot on the 11th.

"That was a very enjoyable stretch," Kite said. "When you play three holes and you have one putt, and that's a 2-footer, that's kind of strange."

Stadler stayed in contention despite "marginal" play on the back nine. The Walrus has spent most of the season near the bottom of the Champions Tour's leaderboards, and he acknowledges getting more enjoyment out of son Kevin's burgeoning career than his own efforts.

"I will be very happy when Sunday gets here, put it that way," Stadler said. "It's been a very interesting year. I've had a lot of weeks when I shouldn't even be on a golf course for a lot of reasons."

Haas leads Roberts by 126 points in the Schwab Cup standings -- the second-closest race in the award's six seasons. Haas and Roberts also are neck-and-neck for the money race champion's Arnold Palmer Award and the Byron Nelson Award, given to the player with the lowest scoring average.

The winner of this tournament gets the biggest share of the second-largest purse on the Champions tour. A strong finish also could secure the tour's Rookie of the Year award for David Edwards, Eduardo Romero or Scott Simpson.