Four top first day leaderboard

Hale Irwin got off to a fast start in his bid for a fifth straight victory in the Turtle Bay Championship, shooting a 5-under 67 on Friday for a share of the first-round lead in the Champions Tour event.

The 59-year-old Irwin, seeking his sixth overall victory in the event, was tied with Keith Fergus, Gil Morgan and Allen Doyle.

Dana Quigley, who won the MasterCard Championship on the Big Island last week, was one stroke back along with Bob Gilder, Wayne Levi, Jim Thorpe and Gary McCord.

McCord holed a 78-yard approach with a sand wedge for an eagle on the 574-yard ninth hole on the Turtle Bay Resort's 7,044-yard oceanside Palmer Course.

Irwin birdied five of his six first holes to make the turn in 31. He cooled off on the back nine with a bogey on No. 15, but two-putted the 18th for a birdie.

Fergus, 50, had an up-and-down front nine. He eagled the 530-yard third, but followed with a double-bogey on the par-3 fourth. The former University of Houston coach then went birdie-birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey to make the turn at 35. He settled down with a bogey-free back nine, with birdies on Nos. 11, 12, 14 and 18.

Gary Player was at 69 along with Dick Mast, Australian Rodger Davis, Morris Hatalsky, Jay Sigel, R.W. Eaks, Bobby Wadkins, Hugh Baiocchi, Mike Reid, Bruce Lietzke, Larry Nelson and David Eger.

Mast, who Monday qualified for the PGA Tour's Sony Open and Buick Invitational, breezed through the front nine with five birdies to make the turn at 31. He birdied the 524-yard 12th to reach 6 under, but stumbled late in the round.

He bogeyed the par-4 16th after a poor drive and had a triple-bogey on the next hole when he had to tee off twice after his first drive was lost in the right-side bushes.

Fan favorite and newlywed Arnold Palmer, wearing a khaki fishing hat, was in last place with an 82. The 75-year-old Palmer married Kathleen Gawthrop in a beachside ceremony Wednesday.

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