Bruce Fleisher,
the happiest man on the Senior PGA Tour, kept smiling today after his 5-under-par
67 left him tied with Bruce Summerhays, a shot ahead to start the Senior Tour
Championship.
Fleisher,
a 51-year-old rookie, has rolled through the circuit this season with seven victories
and more than $2.3 million in earnings, all but wrapping up player of the year
honors.
He had five
back-nine birdies in the first round despite his fatigue from topping Hale Irwin
in the money crown chase the past month.
"It's
unexplainable what's happened to me this year," said Fleisher, paired with Irwin.
"To have me talked about in the same breath and same sentences as Irwin. It's
a wonderful, wonderful feeling."
Summerhays, who has won only two tournaments in six Senior Tour seasons, did not
bogey a hole during his round.
Fleisher hadn't ever played The Dunes Golf & Beach Club before this week. He hadn't
seen it since he pulled a cart for his father here nearly 40 years ago. But that's
the way it's been for Fleisher this year.
He led all four rounds in winning his debut tournament, the Royal Caribbean Classic,
in February. He won his second start a week later. And, with Irwin bearing down
on him the past month, won The Transamerica and the EMC Kaanapali Classic.
He was plodding along in
the first round when his putts began to fall. Fleisher, looking like Irwin at
his U.S. Open-winning best, rolled in an 8-footer for birdie on No. 10, a 12-footer
on No. 12 and an 8-footer on No. 13. On the 15th hole, Fleisher dropped an 18-footer
to tie George Archer for the lead -- "I don't think Irwin looked happy with that,"
Fleisher said -- and took it with a 20-foot birdie putt on the next hole.
"We just have to smile
and be thankful" about this season, Fleisher said. "This really puts the icing
on the cake."
Archer
was next at 68 and missed a 6-foot par putt on No. 18, falling from the lead.
Allen Doyle, third on the
money list, was tied at 69 with Ed Dougherty, Hugh Baiocchi, Joe Inman and Dana
Quigley.
Irwin,
who talked Wednesday of wanting to end his year instead of defend his Senior Tour
Championship title, checked in with a 73, six shots behind.
Dave Eichelberger overcame the effects of an 11-hour limo ride from New York's
LaGuardia Airport to The Dunes side entrance Wednesday, shooting a 1-under 71
and part of a group that included 1997 champ Gil Morgan.
Summerhays had never shot a lower round on the difficult Dunes course and says
he's never felt this strong so late in the year. He knocked in a 20-foot birdie
putt on the 11th hole, tied Fleisher with a 15-foot birdie on No. 17 and saved
par from 60 feet on the closing hole. "It feels like the beginning of the year
to me," said Summerhays, runner-up at last week's Pacific Bell Senior Classic.
"It's kind of nice to be moving fast and quick, moving ahead."
Archer, who turned 60 last month, had thought about quitting last year when he
was recovering from hip surgery and losing yardage off his drives. Only one of
his 18 Senior Tour wins has come since 1995. But he says a longer, 48-inch shaft
has increased his distance and his desire.
"Golf,"
Archers says, "is fun for me again."
Just like it is for Fleisher, who won the U.S. Amateur 31 years ago, but never
turned that promise into a big-time career on the PGA Tour. He says he feels more
respect now from his more prominent colleagues and thinks he got the ultimate
acceptance from Raymond Floyd, notorious for his steely demeanor. "Raymond has
actually talked to me," Fleisher said.
