David Toms, shrugging off two lightning delays, overtook Davis Love III to claim the early first-round lead today in the weather-plagued Sprint International.

Play was suspended twice in the afternoon for more than three hours because of lightning at Castle Pines Golf Club. The first delay, with half the field still on the course, lasted 2 hours, 35 minutes, and the second delay lasted 30 minutes.

Fifty-one golfers were unable to finish their rounds and were to resume play early Friday, after which the second round was to begin.

Toms, who ranks among the top 50 on the PGA Tour's money list for the third straight season, vaulted to the top of the leaderboard with an eagle and six birdies, worth 16 points under the modified Stableford scoring system used in this event.

"My expectations weren't very high coming in here," Toms said. "I was struggling with every part of my game. But I worked with my teacher over the weekend. I felt good over the ball all day. I made some putts and things just seemed to fall into place -- even though we were out there all day."

Toms finished nearly eight hours after he started.

Two points behind Toms was Love, who birdied six of his first seven holes and held the lead until Toms birdied his next-to-last hole, just minutes before the horn sounded suspending play because of darkness.

Love, starting on the back nine, birdied Nos. 10, 11 and 12 and, after a par at 13, ran off three more birdies at Nos. 14, 15 and 16. He began the run with a 35-foot birdie putt on the difficult 10th hole and finished it with 1-foot putts on the 15th and 16th. He added his seventh birdie on the par-5 first hole.

"I got off to a great start, obviously," Love said. "I never really did much after that, but I still hit the ball pretty good."

Steve Elkington and Mark Wiebe had 13 each and Rick Fehr and David Sutherland had 12 apiece. Mark Calcavecchia also was at 12 through 15 holes. Defending champion Vijay Singh and Mark O'Meara stood at 11.

The talented field featured eight of the world's top 10 players, including No. 1 Tiger Woods, No. 2 David Duval, and No. 3 Love.

Woods and Duval both had 8 points through 16 and 17 holes, respectively.

Nick Price finished in a group at 7 points. Sergio Garcia, the 19-year-old Spanish sensation who lost by a stroke to Woods in last week's PGA championship, posted 5 points, along with U.S. Ryder Cup selection Steve Pate.

Lee Westwood and former champion Jose Maria Olazabal were at 4.

Unlike the early years of this tournament, when golfers started from zero each day and there were daily cuts, all scores accumulate for four rounds. The format, which rewards aggressive play, awards 8 points for a double eagle, 5 points for eagle, 2 points for birdie, zero for par, minus-1 for bogey and minus-3 for double bogey or worse.

"I didn't play really well," Garcia said. "I was a little tired, but I hit some pretty good shots and I missed a couple of good opportunities for birdie and a couple for eagle. But it's not the worst round you could ask for.

"If I have a good day (Friday), make three or four birdies and a couple of eagles, I can move up a lot of places."

Elkington, who won at Doral this year and stands 33rd on the money list, had eight birdies and three bogeys.

Wiebe, who solved some flaws in his swing after consultation with his instructor on Wednesday, ran off five straight birdies from the 14th through the 18th holes.

AP