Henninger & Verplank share lead

Brian Henninger was blessed with more than a straight driver or hot putter when he arrived for the first round of the $3 million Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic today.

"I was playing with two players who are on the top of their game," Henninger said of Hal Sutton and defending Greensboro champion Jesper Parnevik. "If that can't stimulate you, nothing can."

Henninger, who has missed the cut in six of 11 PGA Tour events this year, parred the first six holes at Forest Oaks Country Club before going on a birdie tear, reeling off five in a row and seven in eight holes to finish at 6-under-par 66 and tied for the lead with Scott Verplank.

"I wasn't counting," Henninger said of his birdie binge. "Somebody asked me if I made eight or nine birdies, and I said, 'I don't know.' That's when you're playing good, when you're not worried about making a birdie on the next hole."

Sutton, who won this year's Players Championship, was at 67 along with Sean Murphy, Omar Uresti, and Doug Dunakey, who birdied his final three holes in the late afternoon.

Sutton holed a pitching wedge from 130 yards for an eagle on the fifth hole to key his round, while Murphy made putts from 40 and 50 feet to secure his 5-under.

Parnevik, who set the 72-hole record here at 23-under in a wire-to-wire victory last year, shot a 69 as his threesome combined to go 14-under.

"That was pretty good for a group, wasn't it?" Sutton said.

Henninger picked up his second career PGA Tour victory last year in the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, which meant he would be paired with the game's better players this season. That was more than OK with a guy best remembered for being tied with Ben Crenshaw after 54 holes of the 1995 Masters before shooting a final-round 76.

"I'm always pleased when I get Tiger (Woods) or Greg Norman, or whoever, because you're going to get people that are going to follow you, and that support is a good thing," he said. "It creates karma, it creates good vibes."

Henninger more than helped himself get to the top of the leaderboard with birdies on Nos. 7-11 with four putts of no more than five feet. He got a par on No. 12, then made a 4-footer for birdie on the par-5 13th hole and a 35-footer on the next hole to get to 7-under.

His 12-foot chip for birdie on No. 17 was sandwiched between two bogeys.

Verplank, who lost a playoff here to Trevor Dodds in 1998 and hasn't won on tour since 1988, also got to 7-under, but bogeyed his final hole after a poor approach shot to close with a 66 -- his best round of the year.

"I don't feel like I played great today," Verplank said. "But I hit the ball in the fairway and on the green, and I hit it close enough to make some birdies."

Six of Verplank's birdie putts were from seven feet or closer.

"I don't know what happened last year other than I didn't make my putts," Verplank said of a season in which he finished 82nd on the money list and had just one top-10 finish. "But I've played pretty decent in the last month. I feel like I'm doing the right stuff."

The 6,958-yard layout at Forest Oaks is considered one of the tour's tougher tests, with 5-inch rough that can make for a long day. But for the second straight year, scores were low despite windy conditions and rain Tuesday that softened the course.

"There's no way to explain it out here, but somebody plays good every single day, no matter what the conditions of the golf course," Verplank said.

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