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Five share first day lead

Jose Maria Canizares birdied two of the last three holes on Friday to join four other golfers at the top of the leaderboard after one round of the Toshiba Senior Classic. Canizares shares the lead at six-under 65 with Bruce Fleisher, Dana Quigley, Dave Stockton and Bob Gilder.

Canizares hit an eight-iron to 12 feet at the 16th at the Newport Beach Country Club and knocked in the birdie effort. At the par-five closing hole, Canizares hit a lob-wedge to eight feet for his seventh birdie of the day.

"In general, I played well," said Canizares, whose 65 was his lowest round of the 2001 campaign. "I'm putting better than I normally do and I did today."

Canizares, who is winless in four years on the elder circuit, started the day with a six-foot birdie at the first but dropped a shot at number five when he could not get up and down out of a greenside bunker.

After the bogey at five, Canizares ran home three birdies in a row, all from inside of 10 feet, for a front-nine 32. He had one other birdie on the back nine, a tap-in three-footer at the 12th.

Fleisher went into red figures early with birdies at his first three holes. At the first, Fleisher dropped a lob-wedge shot to two feet and then drained a 15-footer and 10-footer at two and three, respectively.

"I got off to a real good start with three straight birdies," said Fleisher, who has three top-10s in four starts this season.

Fleisher's three back-nine birdies all came from inside of six feet.

"Six-under was a very good round today," Fleisher said. "I had a very good mindset today."

Quigley was flawless on Friday with six birdies and no bogeys. He carded two early birdies at one and three and then ran off eight consecutive pars. Quigley birdied four of the last seven for his 65.

Stockton used four birdies in a span of five holes on the back to earn his share of the lead.

Gilder, who won the Verizon Classic last month, caught fire on the second nine. His six birdies gave him a back-nine 30 and a piece of the lead.

Two former champions headline the group tied for sixth. Jim Colbert, the winner here in 1996 and Hale Irwin, the 1998 champion join Terry Mauney at minus-four.

Defending champion Allen Doyle is part of a group of 10 golfers who are in ninth at three-under. Among the other notables who are three off the lead are: Lee Trevino, Gil Morgan and 1995 champion George Archer.

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