The weather was good, the format was two-man, best-ball, and the course was young and untested.

In other words, life was beautiful for Gil Morgan and Hubert Green in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf today.

The pair combined for an 11-under-par 61 to take a one-stroke lead over David Graham and Jay Sigel after the first round of the seniors event.

John Mahaffey and Tom Wargo shot 63 to finish another shot back. At 65 were the teams of George Archer and Simon Hobday, Jimmy Powell and Orville Moody and Al Geiberger and Tom Shaw.

The low numbers were nothing new in this 22-year-old event, in which partners take only the better of their two scores on each hole.

But helped by perfectly calm conditions, Morgan and Green got off to a torrid start, shooting an 8-under 28 over the first nine holes at the World Golf Village Slammer and Squire Course.

They finished the first round with 11 birdies and no bogeys.

"This is the best we've played," Green said. "We both had a lot of birdie putts at it. It was like a shootout at the OK Corral out there for a while."

They were grouped in the same foursome as Graham and Sigel, who played them even through the first 14 holes before Morgan made back-to-back birdies to go to 11-under after 16 holes.

Graham answered with an 18-foot birdie putt to pull within one on the par-4 17th.

"It kept us fired up," Green said of being paired with the second-hottest group. "We couldn't get the tee for a while at the start. They came out and made five birdies in a row."

Moody and Powell shared the lead with Geiberger and Shaw in the Legendary division for players ages 60-69.

"Orville played beautifully," Powell said. "I don't think he missed a fairway, he made some great iron shots and he putted well. I'm just along for the ride."

Dale Douglass and Charles Coody, last year's champions in both the main event and the Legendary division, shot 4-under 68.

Tommy Bolt and Jack Fleck tied Freddie Hass and Fred Hawkins at 3-under for the lead in the 70-and-over competition.

Morgan, one of the most consistent players on the Senior PGA Tour, and Green have the early edge on this field thanks to a good sense for an unfamiliar course whose severely undulating greens caused problems for some.

"The greens got more treacherous as the day went on,'' Morgan said. "We made enough putts outside of 10 feet to be satisfied.''

Sigel and Graham stayed close thanks in part to a 2-iron Sigel knocked within 10 feet for an eagle on the par-5 No. 8 -- that, and a pact the two made the night before at dinner.

"We want to support each other and not blame each other," Sigel said. "We want to go out and play and accept what happens. We're not going to go home at the end and evaluate who did what wrong and who did what right."

That's the name of the game in this tournament. And through one round, Green and Morgan seemed to be playing it the best.

DIVOTS: Slammin' Sam Snead, one of the namesakes of the course, combined with Bob Goalby for a 4-over 76. Snead is 86 and Goalby turned 70 last week. ... Bolt was involved in the six-hole playoff 20 years ago in this tournament that helped spawn the Senior PGA Tour. Two others involved, Roberto De Vicenzo and Art Wall, are also playing. De Vicenzo and Mike Fetchick shot 70 while Wall and Doug Ford shot 75. ... Powell says he's feeling well just three weeks after arthroscopic surgery to clean up tissue in his back. But he almost missed the tournament because of a cut in his hand soon after that required seven stitches.