BRIDGEND, Wales — Bernhard Langer shot a 3-under 74 in rain and wind Friday at Royal Porthcawl to hold onto a share of the Senior British Open lead.

The 59-year-old German star was tied at 1 over with Americans Tom Lehman (72), Steve Flesch (71) and Billy Mayfair (72) and Argentina’s Mauricio Molina (73). American Dennis Clark (72) was 2 over.

“The first few holes were extremely tough,” Langer said. “I hit driver, 3-wood on 1 and couldn’t even reach the green, and three-putted. I didn’t hit a bad shot the first four holes and I was 2-over par the first three holes. It was that hard. It was blowing 25 (mph) with rain. It was just miserable.”

Periods of steady rain and wind gusting over 35 mph sent the scores soaring, with the average score of 78.515 second only in tournament history to the 80.118 in 2005 in the first round at Royal Aberdeen.