LUTZ, Fla. The defining moment of Larry Laoretti's golf career -- his victory in the 1992 U.S. Senior Open -- is no longer good enough to get him in tournaments.

So, the man with the wide-brimmed hat and smoldering cigar, a former club professional with no PGA Tour experience, knows he needs to make another statement on the course.

"If you are going to only win one tournament in your life, that's the one to win," Laoretti said today.

But he can't escape his nonexempt status.

"I'm playing for position, to be able to continue playing," the 59-year-old golfer said after shooting a bogey-free 67 to take a two-shot lead after the opening round of the $1.2 million GTE Classic. "Right now, I'm 66th on the all-time money list and hopefully I'll get into 20, 25 events this year."

If they way he played in gusting winds reaching 25 mph at the Tournament Players Club of Tampa is any indication, Laoretti shouldn't have much of a problem.

Still, he won't relax.

"I've got to play like the devil the rest of the year just to hold my spot for next year," he said. "I have to play well.''

It took a sponsor's exemption for Laoretti just to get in the tournament this week, but once he arrived there was no doubt he belonged. As winds whipped most of the 78-player field, Laoretti was rolling.

Two shots back are George Archer and Gibby Gilbert. Another stroke behind are rookie star Bruce Fleisher, Hale Irwin and Larry Nelson.

"I played exceptionally good," Laoretti said. "I've got a new set of irons this year, Orlimar.

"Everybody is familiar with their woods, but I'm the only guy playing with their irons. And right now, they're going straight."

Today that was an accomplishment. Only 10 players broke par while another 10 were even.

That left 58 players on the bad side. Seven of them -- including major league baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench -- were in the 80s.

"It was a tough day with the wind blowing hard and then gusting on top of that," Gilbert said. "It also kept changing directions.''

The 6-foot-6 Archer had difficulties despite his score.

"It was not my kind of day," he said. "This kind of wind is not suited for tall, skinny trees. They blow over the most."

But Laoretti never wavered, finishing as the only golfer in the field not to make at least one bogey. Things like that make him wonder why he has never gotten that second career victory, but now he thinks he knows why.

"I put a lot of pressure on myself after I won the Open," he said. "I started doing a lot of (corporate) outings. I got too busy.

"I got myself too tied up instead of working harder on my game. I probably should have slowed down."