Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson beat
Allen Doyle and Dana Quigley 5 and 4 on Saturday in the first round of
the Diners Club matches.
Nicklaus birdied the first three
holes, added another birdie on the seventh and holed a 36-foot eagle putt
on the par-5 eighth on the seaside Pelican Hill course.
"I am really excited about playing
golf," Nicklaus said. "I haven't played much golf this year, but I am playing
well and I am stronger right now then I have been for many years."
Nicklaus and Watson will play
Bruce Fleisher and David Graham for the SENIOR PGA TOUR championship Sunday.
Fleisher and Graham beat defending champions Gil Morgan and Jay Sigel 3
and 2.
In the PGA TOUR division, Fred
Couples and Mark Calcavecchia beat Chris Perry and Skip Kendall 2 and 1,
and defending champions Steve Elkington and Jeff Maggert beat Steve Pate
and Mark Wiebe 3 and 1.
"Mark played beautifully today,"
Couples said. "I played decent the first few holes and then lost it."
In the LPGA Tour division, defending
champions Juli Inkster and Dottie Pepper beat Kelli Kuehne and Laura Davies
1-up, and Karrie Webb and Kelly Robbins edged Annika Sörenstam and
Lorie Kane 3 and 1.
"We thought we drove the ball
very well," Pepper said. "It's a difficult course and we felt like it was
uphill and into the wind on almost every hole."
The $1.20-million purse is divided
equally among the three tours, with the winning teams sharing $200,000,
the second-place finishers $100,000, the third-place finishers $60,000,
and fourth-place finishers $40,000.
