Three share lead on disrupted first day

Tom Lehman, motivated by the early successes of his playing partners, had five birdies and an eagle over his last 14 holes today and shared the lead in the first round of the weather-delayed International.

With half of the field still on the course, play was suspended twice in the afternoon by lightning. The 72 players who did not finish their first round were to return at 7 a.m. MDT Friday, with the second round to begin about two hours later.

Lehman, the 1996 Open champion, totalled 15 points under the modified Stableford scoring system that awards a player with 5 points for an eagle, 2 points for a birdie, zero for a par, minus-1 for a bogey and minus-3 for a double bogey or worse.

Also at 15 were Tom Scherrer, winner of this year's Kemper Open, and Stephen Ames, who was in contention in last year's International before finishing third.

Australian Stuart Appleby had 14 points and Jeff Gove had 13. Michael Clark II, who won last week's John Deere Classic, had 12 points thanks to two eagles at Castle Pines Golf Club.

Spain's Sergio Garcia had 8 points, but countryman Jose Maria Olazabal was at minus-3 and in danger of missing the 36-hole cut. There also will be a cut after Saturday's third round, to the top 36 players and ties. Unlike the early years of this tournament, all scores are cumulative for the four rounds.

Among those still on the course, Ernie Els had 9 points through 11 holes, and Greg Norman, in his first tournament since having hip surgery five weeks ago, had 9 points through 12 holes. Two-time International champion Phil Mickelson had 6 points through 12 holes.

David Duval, the world's third-ranked player, withdrew after playing six holes in the morning because of a lingering back injury.

Lehman, who has won twice this season and ranks seventh on the PGA Tour money list with $1.9 million, said he was "the guy pulling up the rear for a long time'' in his group. Brian Henninger birdied three of his first six holes, and Mark Calcavecchia eagled his fifth hole.

"Our whole group played very well, which was a benefit to me,'' Lehman said. "They were kind of dragging me along. They got me more in an aggressive mode.''

Starting on No. 10, Lehman birdied the par-5 14th, then eagled the par-5 17th, hitting a 6-iron to 30 feet and draining the putt.

Lehman then birdied Nos. 1, 2, 8 and 9.

"I played the par 5s at 5-under today -- three birdies and an eagle -- which is what you need to do on this course in this format, really abuse the par-5s.

"I like this golf course a lot, and the format is a lot of fun. It lends itself to really aggressive play but not to being ridiculously risky.''

Scherrer, who said he has been struggling with his game for the past month, had eight birdies and a bogey.

"When that putt went in on the fifth hole (for his second birdie), I thought maybe it could be my day,'' he said.

Ames had six birdies, an eagle and two bogeys in a round he said could have been much better.

"I had a lot of opportunities on the back nine, but it didn't go in the hole,'' he said. "My longest putt was 25 feet.''

Play initially was suspended at 3:30 p.m. for 2 hours, 15 minutes. Players returned to the course for only 20 minutes before another delay was called. Forty minutes later, at 6:45 p.m., officials suspended play for the day.

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