Trio top opening day leaderboard

Jan Stephenson, the first woman to play in an official Champions Tour event, shot an 8-over 80 Friday in the opening round of the Turtle Bay Championship.

She had just one birdie on the wind-swept 7,044-yard shoreline Arnold Palmer Course.

Defending champion Hale Irwin, Dana Quigley, playing in a record 230th consecutive Champions Tour tournament, and Rex Caldwell were tied for the lead with 4-under 68s.

Stephenson is the fifth woman to play on men's tours this year.

None is more memorable than Annika Sörenstam at the Bank of America Colonial, where she became the first woman in 58 years on the PGA TOUR. Under scrutiny even more severe than major championships, Sörenstam had respectable rounds of 72-75 and missed the cut by four strokes.

Suzy Whaley qualified for the Greater Hartford Open by winning a PGA sectional tournament for club pros. She, too, missed the cut.

Michelle Wie, a 13-year-old from Hawaii, played on the Nationwide Tour in Idaho and lasted only two days. On Thursday, Laura Davies hit two balls in the water and opened with a 78 in the Korean Open.

Quigley, who won the MasterCard Championship in February and has collected $1.2 million this year, birdied the first three holes and No. 9 for a 4-under 32 on the front nine.

Irwin, attempting to become the first man to win four consecutive titles and five overall in the same Champions Tour event, bogeyed No. 6 but birdied the next three to make the turn at 33.

Caldwell was even on the front nine but had five birdies on the back to pull even with the leaders.

Asked if he is thinking about making Champions Tour history, Irwin said, "You guys are thinking about it, not me. I'm just trying to literally get through this -- whatever I got from my grandson last week -- and not hurt my back any more. I'm just trying to keep it conservative."

Irwin said he's suffering from a head cold he caught from his grandson.

"The critical shot was the par putt I made at 11," he said. "That was very good in that it kept me at 3-under par."

He had pars and one birdie the rest of the way.

Quigley said the winds of Turtle Bay play into his game because he hits the ball low.

"The back nine was more difficult for me," he said. "I shot 32 on the front nine. There are 18 pretty hard holes out there today. If you can get rolling early and make some good birdies you're OK."

Jerry McGee, at 60 one of the oldest players in the event, and Emerald Coast Classic champion Bob Gilder were tied at 69. Pat McDonald, who earned a conditional exemption for the 2003 tour, fired a 70.

South Africa's Bobby Lincoln, who recently turned 50, had four birdies on the front nine to also shoot a 32. But he bogeyed four times and birdied once on the back nine to finish at 71.

He spent his younger pro career playing on the European, Asian and African tours, winning more than 20 tournaments on the African tour.

Lincoln said the wind was worse on the front nine but blamed the downwind on the back nine for making it harder to get close to the pin. Temperatures ranged from 80 to 86 on the shoreline course with winds out of the east 20 mph with higher gusts.

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