Dent & Hobday share 2 shot lead

Jim Dent made his day with one shot.

Dent pitched in from the swale for a birdie on the 191-yard, par-3 second hole today and rode that momentum into a share of the lead with Simon Hobday in the GTE Classic.

Dent and Hobday shot 65s, two strokes better than Terry Dill and Bruce Fleisher.

"It was fun today. You don't have these fun days all the time," Dent said. "I hit a great pitch shot on the second, and it turned the whole day around."

Dent, who resides in the Tampa area and is familiar with the TPC of Tampa Bay course, had a 29 on the front nine.

"It would be special to win," Dent said. "Just to win anywhere feels great."

Hobday also turned one shot into a major turnaround after recording just one top-10 finish in 27 Senior PGA Tour events last year. He discovered the problem while hitting a tee shot on the fourth hole in Wednesday's pro-am - too much body movement.

"I've been keeping my body still and I'm hitting the ball in the middle of the club," Hobday said. "I could have shot better, but I threw away a few shots at the end. That's a pity."

Hobday's last victory came in 1995.

"I've played terrible for the past 2 1/2 years," Hobday said. "Today I hit the ball like Ben Hogan and putted like Ben Crenshaw. Today was lovely, like finding water in the desert."

Tom Kite (73), Tom Watson (73) and Lanny Wadkins (75) competed together for the first time on the senior circuit.

Watson missed Wednesday and Thursday's pro-am after his mother became ill.

"Fortunately, everything is all right, my mother is in good shape," Watson said. "There are no excuses, I didn't play very well. My short game and my putting wasn't there."

Gary Player was at 1-under 71. Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino and defending champion Larry Nelson shot 72.

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