Five top short first day leaderboard

Bob Tway, Kirk Triplett, Paul Stankowski, Steve Pate and Andy Miller had 5-under 67s to share the lead at the Reno-Tahoe Open before a Sierra thunderstorm suspended play Thursday.

Luke Donald, J.P. Hayes, Dennis Paulson and Cameron Beckman were a stroke back, but more than half of the field was unable to complete the round at the 7,472-yard Montreux Golf & Country Club.

Tway, 44, who won the PGA Championship in 1986 but hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 1995, made a 50-foot birdie putt on the par-5 11th and a 20-footer for birdie on the par-4 18th.

He said he's been around long enough to know that good putting is important, but first-round leads are not.

"It's always nice to shoot a good round but it means nothing. We've got way too much golf left to screw up a good start. The scores are usually pretty good here. You still don't know what is going to happen," Tway said. "You've got to make putts."

Triplett, who played his college golf at the University of Nevada, Reno, had six birdies, including a 12-foot putt after he hit the flag with his 7-iron off the tee on the 163-yard 16th.

"I'm thrilled," said Triplett, who has had four top 10 finishes this year, but missed the cut two weeks ago at The International then withdrew from the PGA Championship last week with a back injury.

"I don't want to say I've been playing awful, but I have," he said. "I think I hurt my back because I was swinging so bad."

Miller, the son of former pro and current TV analyst Johnny Miller, had five birdies and an eagle. He hit his second shot wide left into the rough on his final hole, the 616-yard, par-5 9th, but hit a wedge 92 yards to 7 feet and made the birdie to join the leaders at 5 under just before the second rain delay of the day that caused the round to be suspended for good at 5 p.m.

"I hit it great today, what can I say?" said Miller, 25, who had his best career finish with a tie for 31st last month at the B.C. Open.

"I hit every single fairway and really only had one three-putt hiccup," he said.

First-round play was set to resume at 8 a.m. Friday, with the second round to follow.

Stankowski, who has been recovering from wrist surgery, made birdie putts of 15 feet and 4 feet on the first two holes in only his second tournament since May.

"It's so good to be back out," said Stankowksi, who made a premature return at the Western Open in July and had to withdraw because the pain was too great.

"I didn't know if I'd remember how to play after being off so long ... but I birdied the first two holes and that pretty much got me going," he said.

Pate figured he was headed for a double bogey when he drove the ball into the sage brush on the opening hole. But his ball ended up on a cart path, so he got a free drop and hit an 8-iron off the bare dirt within 20 feet for a birdie.

"I was real lucky," he said. "I've been doing a lot of stuff real well for a couple of months."

The nearly 1 inch of rain in 5 hours came as a surprise in Reno, which averages only 8 inches of precipitation a year and hardly any in the summer months.

Course superintendent Doug Heinrichs said it was the hardest it has rained in the five years he has been at Montreux. The water flooded part of the media tent at one point.

"We used our squeegees for the first time ever. We had to round some extra ones up from a neighboring course," Heinrichs said. "They (PGA officials) want us to have 12 on site. We laugh at the idea -- until now."

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