Mediate grabs early Shaw Charity Classic lead

Calgary, AB – Rocco Mediate fired a course-record 8-under 63 on Friday to grab the lead at the end of the first round of the Shaw Charity Classic.

Mediate is seeking his second win this season after capturing the title at the season-opening Allianz Championship. He has also posted four other top-10 finishes in 2013 to go along with his victory.

"It's a narrow little place. I liked it when I saw it," Mediate said about Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club.

Bart Bryant, Jeff Sluman, Bobby Clampett and Rod Spittle shot matching 7-under 64s to share second place, while David Frost, Sandy Lyle, Craig Stadler, Michael Allen and Scott Hoch sit a stroke behind them at 6-under 65.

Joel Edwards, Mark Brooks, Kirk Triplett, Jay Don Blake and Tom Byrum all carded 5-under 66s to share 11th.

Mediate cruised through his front nine with eight pars and a birdie before putting together a dominant back nine to race into the lead.

His push started with a birdie at the 10th, and following three straight pars, Mediate birdied the 14th and eagled the 15th to move to 5-under.

A birdie at the 17th moved him within a shot of clubhouse leaders Bryant and Spittle, and he leapt ahead of them with an eagle at the last to claim the outright lead.

"I haven't been putting the putter where I wanted it. Today it was done and all of a sudden, bang, and you never know out here, get on a roll and just keep going," said Mediate.

Spittle had earlier opened his bogey-free round with a birdie at the first, and added gains at the third and sixth to make the turn at 3-under.

After rolling in an eagle at the 11th, the Canadian poured in back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th to reach 7-under and closed with three straight pars to remain there.

Bryant, meanwhile, was playing alongside Spittle and countered an opening bogey with birdies at the second, fourth, sixth and eighth.

He stayed hot with a birdie at the 11th to reach 4-under, and later birdied three of his last four holes to grab a share of the lead.

Sluman posted seven birdies during his bogey-free round, while Clampett countered three bogeys during his up-and-down round with eight birdies and an eagle.

NOTES: Mediate's career-low round on the Champions Tour is an 11-under-par 61 in the second round of the Allianz Championship ... Spittle, who is from Ontario, is a two-time winner of the Canadian Amateur ... Gene Jones recorded a hole-in-one at the 14th.