Doyle takes five shot lead after 64

Allen Doyle fired an 8-under-par 64, sinking two eagles along the way, and built a 5-stroke lead today after the first round of the $2.1 million IR Senior Tour Championship.

A group of six other golfers was tied for second at 69 -- Mike McCullough, John Jacobs, Larry Nelson, Stewart Ginn, Hubert Green, and Jose Maria Canizares.

Doyle, seventh on the tour earnings list this season with $1.4 million, bogeyed the first hole at the par-72, 6,840-yard Tournament Players Club of Myrtle Beach.

"It wasn't a very good start but I told myself we had 17 more holes and three more rounds," Doyle said.

He quickly made up the stroke with a birdie on the second hole and, after notching his first eagle on the par-5 sixth, was on his way. Doyle was still 2-under at the turn before picking up six more strokes on the back nine, including the second eagle on the par-4 16th.

The 31 top money winners on the tour played under a bright sun with temperatures in the 70s. Doyle's 64 was the best opening round score in the history of the tournament.

But he said you don't win a tournament on the opening day.

"There's way too much golf to play,'' he said. "The par-5s out there -- if you drive it good and you hit some good second shots, you can make some things happen. I was very surprised the scores were not lower.''

He said the last time he made two eagles in the same round was at the Southern Amateur 11 years ago. "That doesn't happen much," he said.

But Doyle said he doesn't think he got more out of the round than he deserved.

"Any golfer that feels that they have left the course stealing shots only has to think to their last event or two events prior to that," said Doyle, whose daughter Erin served as his caddie.

"I learned a long time ago, whatever number you're supposed to shoot that day, you normally end up shooting it," he said.

Nelson, this year's top money winner, was even through the fifteenth, but finished with three straight birdies to climb back into a tie for second.

"Today was a kind of rope-a-dope kind of day,'' said Nelson who, with a victory, could become the first player in tour history to earn $3 million in a season.

It's the first time the tournament is being played on the course and Nelson said the scores may drop as players become more familiar with it.

"You really just have to see how the golf course is playing," he said. "I think it will get a little bit easier, even if you hit the ball tomorrow as I hit it today."

Jacobs said he would like to see the course set up to play longer.

"If they leave the course the same as it's been, you'll see 63s and 64s pop up two or three more times," said Jacobs. "This should be the hardest course we play all year.''

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