Wiebe leads by 1 at 3M Championship

Blaine, MN – Mark Wiebe fired an 8-under 64 on Friday to grab a 1-stroke lead at the end of the first round of the 3M Championship.

Wiebe captured his first career major victory last week by outlasting Bernhard Langer in five playoff holes at the Senior British Open. The last three of the extra holes had to be contested on Monday after a couple of rain delays on Sunday led to play being suspended due to darkness.

"I can tell you I'm exhausted," Wiebe said. "I'm proud of my round today because I'm really tired."

Kenny Perry and Corey Pavin carded matching 7-under 65s at TPC Twin Cities to share second place, while Peter Senior, Tom Pernice, Jr., John Riegger, Bart Bryant and Jeff Brehaut are all tied for fourth at 6-under 66.

Colin Montgomery and Hal Sutton occupied ninth at 5-under 67.

Wiebe opened his bogey-free round with a couple of pars before rolling in a birdie at the third.

He then followed three straight gains from the fifth with another birdie at the ninth to make the turn at 5-under.

Wiebe cruised through his inward nine with birdies at Nos. 12, 14 and 16 to move to the top of the leaderboard.

"Little bit of confidence goes a long way. Golf is a funny game." said Wiebe. "After the birdie at No. 9, I'm 5-under and thought, 'Well, here we go.'"

Perry raced out of the gate with three straight birdies. He poured in back-to- back birdies at the fifth and sixth to reach 5-under before tripping to a bogey at the seventh.

He got that stroke back with a birdie at the ninth and reeled off three birdies in a four-hole stretch from the 13th to meet Wiebe at 8-under, but he fell a shot off the pace with a bogey at the 17th.

Perry closed with a par at the last to stay at minus-7.

"I got tired out there a bit. I ran out of gas the last couple of holes," stated Perry. "You have got to shoot three low scores every day here, so a fast start is key."

Pavin reached the turn at 4-under after recording birdies at the second, third, sixth and seventh.

He closed his steady round with gains at the 10th, 14th and 18th to move within a stroke of the lead.

NOTES: Wiebe's 64 was the lowest of his 10 career rounds at TPC Twin Cities ... Perry is making his first start since winning the Constellation Senior Players Championship and U.S. Senior Open Championship in consecutive weeks. He is trying to become the first player to win three consecutive starts since Fred Couples did so in 2010 ... Langer, who won this event in 2012, is not in the field this week.