GOLF ROUNDUP : Nicklaus’ U.S. Open Tuneup Turns Into a Clunking 77

When defending champion Jack Nicklaus stumbled at the start Thursday, it signaled the rest of the pack to charge for the front in the first round of the Senior Players Championship at Dearborn, Mich.

When the round was over, little known club pro Jim Albus was the leader at six-under-par 66, two shots ahead of Gay Brewer, Bobby Nichols, Don Bies and Al Geiberger, all of whom were tied at 68 in the $1-million championship that pays $150,000 to the winner.

Bob Charles and Mike Hill were one shot back over the new 6,876-yard TPC of Michigan layout.

Nicklaus had hoped to use this tournament, on a course he designed, as a tuneup for next week’s U.S. Open. But he bogeyed three of the first five holes and never recovered. He made the turn at three-over 39, then came in with bogeys on the last two holes to finish at 77.

It was only Albus’ fifth Senior Tour event this year. Albus is a club pro at Piping Valley Country Club in Locust Valley, N.Y. He has won $17,871 in his first four tournaments to rank 63rd on the money list.

Albus, who earned $14,433 in two Senior tournaments last year, finished in a tie for eighth last week in the Commemorative at Scarborough, N.Y.

Albus, in a bogey-free round, was three under on both nines for his 66.

Brewer, whose only victory on the Senior Tour was in 1984 at Lexington, Ky., birdied five of the first seven holes.

He made the turn at four under, then birdied the 10th and 12th holes to go six under. But he found hazards at both the 16th and 18th to finish at 68.

Paul Azinger returned from a six-week break with a performance that was good enough to tie for the first-round lead in the Buick Open at Harrison, N.Y.

“Sometimes it was pretty, and sometimes it was pretty ugly--Jekyll and Hyde stuff,” Azinger said of his five-under 66.

He shared the lead with Chris Perry, Fulton Allem and Brad Bryant.

Bryant, 36, who has yet to win in a 14-season career, described his physical condition as “as mess,” while Allem, a native of South Africa who lives in Florida, said he was suffering from a herniated disk in his back and could be forced to withdraw if he is unable to find an acupuncturist.

Perry had seven birdies, an eagle, two bogeys and a double bogey over the Westchester Country Club course.

Hale Irwin, 46, who won this event and the U.S. Open on consecutive weeks last year, led a group of eight at 67.