George Archer, who nearly quit golf a year ago, shot a steady 4-under-par 68 today to grab a share of the lead with Graham Marsh after the first round of the Nationwide Championship.

Archer, who will be 60 on Oct. 1 and is seeking his 19th victory on the Senior PGA Tour, had a bogey-free round that included four birdies over the soggy, 6,885-yard, par-72 Golf Club of Georgia course.

Marsh, fifth on the money list with more than $458,000, including a victory in The Tradition at Scottsdale, Ariz. on April 4, had five birdies and one bogey to match Archer.

The group at 69 included Hale Irwin, Kermit Zarley, Simon Hobday and Leonard Thompson.

Defending champion John Jacobs shot a 74 on an overcast day that began with play for the $210,000 first prize delayed at the start for 40 minutes by lightning.

Among those at 70 was Allen Doyle of LaGrange, Ga., a two-time winner this year on tour, including the PGA Seniors' Championship, and second on the money list with more than $728,000.

Leading money winner Bruce Fleischer ($842,220) shot a 72 and Larry Nelson of nearby Marietta, who won the Bruno's Classic last week, was at 73.

Archer had considered retiring because of poor play and hip surgery two weeks before winning at Grand Rapids last August.

"I went through some tough times, but my hip is improving," said Archer, who had hip replacement surgery in April 1996 which put him out for nearly a year.

"My wife and I went on vacation to Germany last year and I told her I was going to give it a month and if I still wasn't playing well, I'd give it up," Archer recalled.

Two weeks later he won the Michigan event and wound up 1998 ninth on the money list with more than $1 million. Retirement is no longer an option, he said.

So far this year, Archer has four top-10 finishes, including a third, in 11 events and has earned more than $280,000, 13th in earnings.

"I've been doing exercises for the hip and it keeps getting stronger every day," Archer said. "It's nice to be back to playing very well for a guy my age."

Irwin, who has won 16 events during the previous two years and more than $5.2 million, has yet to win this year. His best finish is a tie for fourth in the GTE Classic in February.

Irwin, second in this event three of the last four years, held the lead at 5-under before bogeys on Nos. 14 and 16.

DIVOTS: The lowest 18-round score in the nine years of this tournament, and fifth at the Golf Club of Georgia, is a 9-under-par 63 by Bruce Summerhays and Larry Laoretti in 1995. Dave Stockton had the same score in the second round in 1994 when the event was last played at the Country Club of the South course. ... Charles Coody has the only hole-in-one in the tournament's history. ... No first-round leader has ever gone on to the win the tournament.