Byron Nelson Golf Tournament : Stewart, Norman Match 64s and Share First-Round Lead

Payne Stewart and Greg Norman shot six-under-par 64s Thursday to share a one-shot lead in the opening round of the $600,000 Byron Nelson golf tournament.

“I’m back in Texas, and that means I’m going to play well,” said Stewart, who attended Southern Methodist University. “I just knew I was going to play well here. I said the same thing a few weeks ago in Houston and I did.”

In Stewart’s last four tournaments in Texas, he has finished third (at Houston), second (at San Antonio), second (losing in a playoff at Fort Worth) and fourth (in last year’s Nelson).

Stewart, though, is a threat anywhere he plays. This year, he has six finishes in the top six and is the tour’s second-leading money winner.

Norman made history last year by leading after three rounds of all four major championships and lost this year’s Masters when Larry Mize sank a 140-foot pitch shot on the second hole of a playoff.

Both players had bogey-free rounds on the TPC course at Las Colinas, and Norman recorded an eagle at the par-5 seventh. He hit a drive 341 yards and put a 3-iron within four feet of the pin.

Tied for third at 65 were Fred Couples, Gary Hallberg and tour rookie Gary Krueger, playing in his seventh pro event. Ben Crenshaw was in a group at 66. U.S. Open champion Raymond Floyd had a 68; leading money winner Paul Azinger, who won last week at Las Vegas, and Lee Trevino each shot a 69, and Tom Watson had a 73.