Jose Maria Canizares may be ready to continue Spain's success in American golf.

Playing in his third PGA Seniors' Championship, Canizares fired a 4-under-par 68 today and trailed Bruce Summerhays by two shots after the first round at the PGA National Golf Club.

"I will try very hard this week, but I try every week," said Canizares, 52, a native of Madrid. "I am happy for Jose Maria Olazabal and for Sergio Garcia."

Just last Sunday, Olazabal won the Masters for the second time in six years and Garcia, a 19-year-old, was the low amateur. Both are from Spain.

"It was very good for Spain and for European golf," Canizares said.

Summerhays, twice a winner on the Senior PGA Tour, played bogey-free golf with three birdies on each nine to take the lead at 66 on the 6,754-yard Champion course.

Tied at 69 were John Jacobs, Bob Dickson and Terry Dill. Jacobs has won twice on the senior tour, Dickson and Dill once each. None has a top-10 finish in the PGA Seniors' Championship.

Bruce Fleisher, who won his first two starts on the Senior Tour in February, was among four players at 70. Lee Trevino, the winner here in 1992 and 1994, led a group of eight at 71.

Hale Irwin, the three-time defending champion, opened at 3-over 75, his highest score in 13 PGA Seniors rounds on the Champion.

"It's among the top three rounds I've ever played," said Summerhays, 55, who is in his fifth year on the Senior Tour. "It's a very good golf course with a lot of very good holes. Except for the 14th hole, everything just seemed to go very smoothly. Both the pars and birdies seemed to be very easy."

At the par-4 14th, Summerhays popped up his tee shot and it landed in a fairway bunker. He had to wedge back into the fairway, still 120 yards from the hole. He hit a 9-iron third shot to six feet and made the par-saving putt.

"I just hit a lot of good 7-iron and 9-iron approach shots," Summerhays added. His six birdie putts ranged from 8 to 18 feet.

Canizares also made three birdies on each nine but made bogey at two holes. "I played steady but I made two stupid mistakes. ... I make three-putt and three-putt," at the par-5 10th and par-4 12th. He birdied Nos. 1, 3, 6, 11, 15 and 18. His longest putt was a 20-footer at the first hole.

Canizares won seven times on the European tour between 1972 and 1992 and played on four Ryder Cup teams. He was twice a runner-up last year on the Senior Tour, earning more than $1 million. He was 35th here in 1997 and 22nd last year.

"The name Jose Maria is the best in the world right now," Canizares said. "I am very happy for Jose Maria (Olazabal) and the amateur (Garcia). He's a very good friend of mine also."

The success by Olazabal and Garcia last weekend is "good for Spanish golf," Canizares added. "There are no more than 600 (golf) professionals in our country," compared to 24,000 in the United States. "It was unusual, maybe lucky. Spain is not a big country. People are lucky to work for food. Any player in any country, winning big tournaments is good for that country."

Canizares, who said he has known Olazabal since the latter was a year old, came to Florida from The Tradition in Scottsdale, Ariz., the week before the Masters and watched the fabled tournament on television while staying close to the beach here.

The second round of the 60th annual PGA Seniors is scheduled Friday, after which the 144-player field will be cut to the low 70 and ties. The last two rounds will be played Saturday and Sunday. The winner of the $1.75 million championship for professionals 50 and older will earn $315,000.