Isao Aoki shot a 7-under 65 to lead after the first round today of the $1.4 million Las Vegas Senior Classic at the Tournament Players Club at Summerlin.

"The conditions were very good," Aoki said. "There was no wind. I enjoyed today. This course is in great condition."

Aoki leads Dave Stockton, who shot a 6-under 66. Leonard Thompson, Mike McCullough and Dewitt Weaver were 4-under.

"I'm having a nice feeling and nice touch with my putter," Aoki said. "I've enjoyed playing the Senior Tour for the last six years."

Aoki had seven birdies, including three straight on Nos. 15-17. He sank a 5-foot putt for birdie on the 15th hole and a 25-footer on the par-5 16th.

Aoki, who led after the first round of the 1997 tournament only to finish second to Hale Irwin, used a 6-iron to put his tee shot within 15 feet on the par-3 17th hole and followed with a birdie putt to get to 7-under.

Stockton was 1-under through nine holes. He bogeyed the fifth hole but came back to chip in for birdie from the back of the green on the sixth. He dropped a 20-foot putt on the ninth hole.

Stockton birdied Nos. 11, 13, 14, 17 and 18 coming home.

"The balls were rolling farther and the greens are absolutely perfect," Stockton said. "Wind was never a factor today."

Hale Irwin, who has won the last two Las Vegas Senior Classics and also last week's Nationwide Championship in Alpharetta, Ga., shot a 1-under 70 on the TPC The Canyons course. He was 5-under after 15, but finished with two bogeys and a double-bogey.

DIVOTS: The event was played at the TPC Summerlin (7,243-yard, par-72) and TPC The Canyons (6,838-yard, par-71). Two-time winner Jim Colbert, a Las Vegas resident, finished with a 77 at The Canyons. The 78-player field was trimmed by two after Bruce Fleisher was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard and Dale Douglass withdrew with tendinitis in his left wrist.

AP