Funk leads with 62 in Mexico

For about an hour earlier this week, Fred Funk was entered in both the Champions Tour event in Florida and the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

He ended up coming south of the border -- and so far it looks like a smart decision.

Funk, 50, birdied five of his first seven holes at Playa del Carmen and finished with an eight-under-par 62, giving him a two-shot lead Thursday after the first round of the first PGA Tour event in Mexico.

Funk, an 11-stroke winner last month in the Champions Tour’s Turtle Bay Championship, is trying to join Craig Stadler as the only players to win a PGA Tour event after winning on the 50-and-over tour. Stadler won the B.C. Open a week after winning the Ford Senior Players Championship in 2003.

Cameron Beckman had the day’s best stretch with six birdies in seven holes, but couldn’t manage any others and was two shots behind at 64 along with George McNeill, John Merrick and Boo Weekley.

Five others were three shots back at 65, and Mexico’s Esteban Toledo was among those at 66.

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Angela Park, 18, shot a six-under 66 in windy conditions at Kapolei, Hawaii, for a share of the first-round lead with Stacy Prammanasudh in the Fields Open.

Park, making only her fourth LPGA Tour start, birdied five of the first seven holes and made the turn at 31.

Se Ri Pak, who needs to play eight more events to qualify for the World Golf Hall of Fame this year, made a late move to open with a 67. Meaghan Francella survived a triple bogey and was at 68, along with Kyeong Bae.

Jeong Jang, Jee Young Lee, Nicole Perrot and Pat Hurst shot 69s.