Adcock Is in Good Company

Ben Crenshaw won two Masters championships and is in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Jay Sigel was one of the most celebrated amateurs since Bobby Jones.

Suffice to say they need little introduction.

Mitch Adcock is a different story.

Adcock shot a five-under-par 67 in the first round Friday of the AT&T; Classic at Valencia Country Club and leads by a shot over Crenshaw and Sigel, who will be his playing partners in the final group for today’s second round.

After his round, Adcock needed plenty of introductions, the first of which was to a Champions Tour media official who had never met Adcock despite 17 years of experience dealing with tour players.

The next was to members of the media, who found a multitude of ways to politely ask, “Who the heck are you?” and “What are you doing leading this tournament?”

The second question was easier.

Adcock shot four-under 32 on the front nine, needed only 27 putts to complete his round and did not make a bogey until he three-putted from 42 feet on the 18th hole.

As for the first question, Adcock was a Monday qualifier playing on the Champions Tour for only the third time. A journeyman pro before 50, Adcock had brief stints on the PGA Tour in 1978, ’90 and ’92.

He played the Nationwide Tour and European PGA Tour before back surgery and a disdain for his lackluster play nearly forced him to quit in 1996.

A chance meeting with instructor Jim Hardy in 2004 got Adcock to return to playing, and he has been on something called the Sunbelt Senior Professional Golf Tour for the last year.

This is the second time he has gained entry as a qualifier this year -- he finished tied for 67th at the Turtle Bay Championship in Hawaii -- and said he feels fortunate just to be in the tournament, let alone in the lead.

“I’m the exception here,” he said. “These guys are all past champions. I’m grateful for what I’ve got. This tour wasn’t built for guys like me. It was built for the Crenshaws and the guys that are here.”

If that’s the case, nobody bothered to tell Crenshaw. A 19-time winner on the PGA Tour, Crenshaw has yet to break through in five years on the Champions Tour, with only four top-10 finishes.

One of those came this year when he tied for seventh at Turtle Bay, and Crenshaw said he can feel his confidence building.

“I feel like I’m capable,” Crenshaw said. “I just have not put things together. But, I’m hitting some better shots, so it’s helping my confidence..”

Sigel is a two-time U.S. Amateur champion who remained an amateur until he turned 50.

He doesn’t have a great history at Valencia -- he failed to break 80 twice here last year and has not finished higher than 33rd place in four tries on the course -- but used a practice round with Jason Gore and a few weeks off to regroup and prepare for this week.

“You just try not to remember how you have done in the past,” he said. “I played well in my practice round and well in the pro-ams, so it’s nice to be able to do well when it counts.”

Tom Purtzer, who won at Valencia in 2003, and Gil Morgan, the 2004 champion, are among five players at three under.