Jim Albus birdied four straight holes en route to a 7-under-par 65 today for the first-round lead in the BellSouth Senior Classic.

Albus held a one-shot lead over David Lundstrom, who got into the tournament as an alternate when Allen Doyle was forced to withdraw, and Howard Twitty, who toured the 6,783-yard Springhouse Golf Club course in a pair of spiked sandals designed to relieve his ailing feet.

Two strokes back were John Mahaffey, Harold Henning, 1997 BellSouth champion Gil Morgan, Al Geiberger and Joe Inman, who lost to Doyle last week in a playoff.

The 61-year-old Geiberger's round came 22 years and a day after he became the first player to shoot below 60 in a PGA Tour event, with a 59 in Memphis. It's been done only twice since.

Albus birdied eight holes, with only one birdie putt of more than 12 feet.

"The putter has held me back more than anything this year," he said. He ranks 52nd on the Senior PGA Tour in putting.

"I drove the ball well and hit my irons pretty good. That makes the putting look a lot better."

Five of his birdie putts were less than five feet.

Lundstrom was the fourth alternate after a Monday qualifying round, and got into the field when Doyle, the tour's leading money winner, withdrew due to back spasms.

"I found out Tuesday afternoon that Allen withdrew," Lundstrom said after shooting a bogey-free round. "Hopefully I can take advantage. You have to stay ready because you don't get that many chances."

Lundstrom posted five birdies in the six holes around the turn, then parred his way to the finish.

"You get excited seeing your name on the leaderboard," said Lundstrom, who turned pro in 1976 but made only $68,991 on the PGA Tour. He worked as a club pro and opened a printing business in his home of Houston before joining the senior tour last year, when he made $451,979.

"What a blessing to make in a week what you were making for many years in a year," he said, adding that he keeps the printing business so ``just in case that putter goes bad, you still have a way to eat."

Twitty also birdied three of the four par-5s and played the back in 32 strokes. He said he wears the sandals after three foot operations.

"The first day on the practice tee, Gibby Gilbert called me Moses," he said. "The only drawback of my shoes is everybody asking where you get them."

Hale Irwin, winner of two of the last five events on the senior tour, was 4-under along with Butch Baird, Jay Sigel, Kermit Zarley, Hugh Baiocchi and Jim Thorpe.

Eleven more players were at 69, as 49 of the 78 players broke par in the $1.4 million tournament.