Irwin & Quigley top leaderboard with 66s

Hale Irwin and Dana Quigley opened with 6-under 66s Friday to share a one-stroke lead after the first round at the Wal-Mart First Tee Open.

Irwin, a two-time winner this year and the Champions Tour's career money leader, had seven birdies and one bogey at Del Monte Golf Course.

Quigley, also a two-time winner this season who lost to Loren Roberts in a playoff at The Tradition last week, had a bogey-free round at Del Monte that included six birdies.

Walter Hall, Bob Gilder and Doug Tewell, playing at Pebble Beach, the host course, shot 67s, one stroke off the lead and a stroke ahead of a logjam of players, including former two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange.

``I think 66 over here at Del Monte is a good round,'' Irwin said. ``It looks like a course you can tear it up, but it's a test. The course is not as easy as it looks. There are some greens that can give you problems.''

The oldest golf course west of the Mississippi River, Del Monte replaced the more difficult Bayonet Golf Course in the second-year tournament. The Del Monte layout, built in 1897, measures 6,257 yards, far shorter than most Champions Tour courses.

``There was no wind and that helped,'' said Quigley, who played the course for the first time. ``The fairways were soft.''

The unique First Tee Open pairs 78 pros with a junior partner in foursomes that also include two amateurs. The top 22 pro-junior teams advance to Sunday's final round at Pebble Beach.

Irwin, whose practice round at Del Monte early in the week was his first time on the course, was never in trouble.

``I don't get too excited with first-round scores,'' Irwin said. ``But you have to be up there to have a chance. It's always good to be in the mix.''

Roger Maltbie, playing with junior partner Mike Smith of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., Jim Thorpe and Amit Odalyar of Lodi, Calif., and Strange and partner Thomas Klingman of Bedford Corners, N.Y., share a one-stroke team lead after 64s at Pebble Beach.

Defending tournament champion Craig Stadler is tied for 11th after a 69 at Del Monte.

Arnold Palmer, at 75 the oldest tournament entrant and one of the principle owners of Pebble Beach, shot a 12-over-par 84 at Del Monte.

The winner of the 54-hole tournament will earn $300,000 of the $2 million purse.

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