GOLF : Pavin (63) Regains Putting Stroke in Texas

Corey Pavin made a 15-foot putt on his final hole to take a one-stroke lead Thursday in the first round of the Texas Open at San Antonio.

The putt was important, Pavin said, but not the lead.

“The putt was big because it helped my attitude,” Pavin said, “but taking the lead at this point is not all that critical.”

Pavin’s bogey-free, eight-under-par 63 on the Oak Hills Country Club course ranked as his best score of the year.

And, as he said, “it came at the right time.”

It reinforced his confidence in a renewed putting stroke that had deserted him over his last two starts when he missed the cut.

“It’s been a rough couple of weeks,” Pavin said. “I just wasn’t putting well.”

But he holed three times from the 20-foot range and made another from 30 feet, and missed only two greens.

That lifted him ahead of Roger Maltbie, 41, who birdied five holes in a row in a round of 64.

“I can’t remember the last time I did anything like that,” Maltbie said. “I don’t know whether it’s the years or the whiskey.”

The group at 65 included Larry Mize, South African Fulton Allem, Neal Lancaster and Kim Young, whose wife Jacqueline served as his caddie.

U.S. Open title-holder Tom Kite was at 66, one ahead of PGA champion Nick Price.