A few months shy of 60, Jack Nicklaus is more Silver Bear than Golden Bear. His once-blond hair is flecked with gray, his left hip is artificial and his best days on the golf course are only a memory.

That doesn't mean he doesn't have some game, a lot of game, in fact, for someone who hadn't played a competitive round in nearly a year.

Nicklaus wasn't the first-round leader in the PGA Senior Bell Atlantic Classic today; Frank Conner was with a 6-under 66, two shots better than three others in a field with only two of the tour's top 10 money winners.

But Nicklaus was the story in his first tournament since the U.S. Senior Open in July and his hip replacement operation in January, shooting a 2-over 74 that could have been a lot better, he reasoned, or a lot worse.

"I didn't think I would be quite as peaceful as I was shooting a 74," said Nicklaus, who was followed by nearly all the gallery on a summerlike 80-degree day. "Accepting 74 has never been one of my strong suits."

His strength isn't all the way back -- he estimates it at 85 percent. His short game was erratic and his tee shots sometimes off-line and wobbly. His legs weren't.

Nicklaus did not struggle with fatigue, concentration or motivation on a 4-year-old Hartefeld National course that is the hilliest on the Senior PGA Tour. Knock the rust off, he said, and he'll be close to the same old Nicklaus -- not the Nicklaus whose deteriorating hip made him feel very, very old.

"When it gets so you can't do the things in life you enjoy, the pleasures of life leave you," said Nicklaus, who got a ceramic left hip only four months ago. "That was the reason for it. Golf was a bonus."

Competition golf, that is. He quickly tired of fiddling with his short game in his backyard, of playing his sons in friendly country club matches. His doctors predicted he wouldn't return for two months but, much like Nicklaus right now, the timing was off.

"You can play only so many $2 skins game with your kids," Nicklaus said. "I wanted to go out and play against the big guys. ... I was so bored just watching guys play. I just wanted to come out and talk to the guys. If I don't take their money, that is something else. I've been home long enough."

He walked every step of the round, tapping his putter on the green in frustration on No. 9 and whacking an iron into the turf after hitting into the sand on 16.

Nicklaus expects his game to improve quickly as he prepares for his own Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, in two weeks and the U.S. Open, the U.S. Senior Open and the Senior Players Championship after that.

"My strength, accuracy and distance will come back," said Nicklaus, who jokingly refers to himself now as a 4-handicapper. "I hit some dumb shots but I hit a lot of good shots, too."

He needed only two holes to get his first birdie in 10 months, dropping a 12-footer on No. 2 that caused a roar to ripple across the nearby mushroom farms, whose aroma creates an odorous ambience unlike any other in pro golf.

Nicklaus gave the stroke right back on No. 4, then went bogey-birdie-double bogey on Nos. 7-8-9 to finish the front nine 2 under. He had one birdie and one bogey -- the result of a poor chip shot on No. 16 -- and a near-birdie on No. 18 to finish his round.

"I don't expect to play good golf, but I don't expect to play dumb golf," he said. "I didn't expect to shoot 65, but I would have liked to."

Conner, only 38th on the money list but a fourth-place finisher last week in Las Vegas, nearly did in a round he called "a nice 66."

"For the way I've been playing, it was nice to have a steady round of golf," he said.

Jim Holtgrieve, who didn't turn pro until last year and is entered on a sponsor's exemption, Jim Thorpe and Rocky Thompson were at 68, one shot better than Bob Charles and John Mahaffey.

Mahaffey birdied the first four holes and was 5 under through No. 8. He seemed in position to challenge defending champion Jay Sigel's course-record 62 before playing the final 10 holes in 2 over.

Sigel, bothered by shoulder tendinitis, was among three at 2-under 70.

AP