Looking for his first victory in more than 14 months, Lee Trevino birdied six of the last nine holes for a 67 today and joined a six-way tie for the lead in the Cadillac NFL Golf Classic.

Allen Doyle, a two-time winner this year, overcame back problems for a 5-under-par round matched by Bob Charles, Joe Inman, DeWitt Weaver Jr. and Tom McGinnis in the $1.1 million event.

Jim Holtgrieve, given a sponsor's exemption to this event, was at 69 and a large group at 70 included defending champion Bob Dickson, Jay Sigel and Hubert Green.

Trevino, whose best finish in 10 events this year is a seventh, had two very different nines on the 6,816-yard Upper Montclair Country Club, a tree-lined course built in 1901 that allows players to use a variety of shots to reach the greens. He was 1-over on the front nine and shot a 6-under 30 on the back.

"Don't ask me how I did it because I haven't been playing good," said Trevino, who will turn 60 in December. "This is the best starting round I had all year."

Trevino missed two short putts for bogeys on the front side. He rolled in birdies of 8, 5, 4, 8 and 35 feet on the back, capping the round with a 10-inch tap-in birdie on the par-5 18th. His best shot came out of the rough on the par-4, 425-yard 12th, when he cut a 2-iron from 205 yards around a tree to four feet.

"You come to a golf course like this and if your A game isn't working, you can go to B or C," Trevino said. "You can choke down, roll, punch, run and get away with a lot of stuff." Newer courses, he added, don't allow that.

While the round clearly put Trevino in contention for his first title since March 1998, he didn't seem overly excited.

"Maybe I'm too comfortable," Trevino said. "You have to be nervous. You have to be where you can't spit. You have to have cotton in your mouth where you can knit a sweater.

"I think all people who win and want to win, they're a little nervous and concentrate a little better. I guess the best way to put it, I'm too happy," said the winner of 28 Senior PGA Tour titles, but only four in the last five years.

Doyle, whose $871,364 is second on the money list to fellow rookie Bruce Fleisher, had seven birdies and two bogeys. He developed spasms in his back on No. 11 after hitting a 7-wood and struggled for a few holes.

Doyle, who had surgery for a disc problem in 1989, felt a dull pain in his back during last week's tournament but played through it and finished fourth.

"Hopefully, I'm tough enough I can handle it, at least that's what I'm saying," said Doyle, who was in such obvious pain on No. 11 that Trevino, playing in another group, walked by and asked him how he was doing.

McGinnis had five birdies in a bogeyless round, Inman had three birdies and an eagle and Charles was even par on the front nine and had five birdies on the back. Weaver also had an eagle in a round that included two bogeys and five birdies.

The 54-hole tournament is being held in conjunction with an event for NFL players. Tenneesse Titans punter Craig Hentrich led 12 players advancing to Saturday's 18-hole championship by shooting a 3-over-par 75. Fellow Tennessee kicker and four-time winner Al Del Greco and two-time defending champion Trent Dilfer of Tampa Bay also advanced with 77s. Seattle quarterback Glenn Foley shot a 76 but withdrew from the final to be the best man in a friend's wedding on Saturday.

AP