Golf : Mike Hill Leads by 2 in Seniors

Mike Hill ended an eight-year absence from full-time competitive golf Thursday with a five-under-par 67 that carried him to a two-shot lead in the opening round of the PGA Seniors Championship at Palm Beach Gardens.

Hill, making his debut on the tour for golfers 50 years and older, overcame gusting winds and had six birdies and one bogey to stay ahead of Al Geiberger on the par 72, 6,530-yard Champion course at PGA National.

Geiberger posted a 69, while defending champion Gary Player and Orville Moody shot 70s.

Two-time PGA Seniors champion Arnold Palmer, 1988 money leader Bob Charles and Paul Moran followed at 71. Six others, including former champions Miller Barber and Joe Jimenez, shot 72s.

Hill, who turned 50 on Jan. 27, is the youngest player competing for the first-place check of $72,000. He played the PGA Tour for 16 years, the last six part-time, before deciding to quit in 1986.

“When they made it so you couldn’t qualify (for PGA events) on Monday,” said the younger brother of Dave Hill, “I decided to work for a living,” who owns a farm and a nine-hole public golf course in Brooklyn, Mich.