Golf Roundup : Floyd, Bad Back and All, Shoots 64, Leads by 2

Raymond Floyd, undergoing daily therapy for a back injury, shot a seven-under-par 64 Thursday to take a two-stroke lead in the first round of the $600,000 Greater Hartford Open golf tournament at Cromwell, Conn.

Six players, including Greg Norman and Hale Irwin, were tied at 66.

Floyd, 42, credited his play over the 6,786-yard course at the Tournament Players Club of Connecticut to an exercise program designed by the tour’s traveling fitness center.

“I spend two hours a day doing the exercises, stretching and loosening, which is a lot to set aside every day,” Floyd said. “It makes golf an eight-hour job, but I am still competitive and want to play.”

The 22-year tour veteran suffered the injury this winter while playing in Los Angeles.

“It was a muscle tear or something, but I couldn’t play,” he said. “I couldn’t sit either, just stand or lie down, the pain was so bad.”

Tied with Norman and Irwin at 66 were John Cook, John Mahaffey, Hubie Green and Ron Streck.

Four golfers, including LPGA money leader Alice Miller, shot four-under-par 68s to share the first-round lead in the $390,000 du Maurier tournament at Montreal. Miller was tied with Chris Johnson, Laurie Rinker and Sally Little. One shot back were U.S. Open champion Kathy Baker, Patti Rizzo, Jane Crafter and former du Maurier winner Amy Alcott.

U.S. Masters champion Bernhard Langer shot a four-under-par 68 to share the lead with Swede Mats Lanner and Australian Graham Marsh in the opening round of the $182,000 Dutch Open at Noordwijk, the Netherlands.