Dent Cranks It Up and Takes a One-Shot Lead : Seniors: Course is muddy, but his length gives him advantage over Geiberger and Archer.

Long-hitting Jim Dent was tired after playing 36 holes Friday, but he was also in the lead of the senior portion of the Infiniti Tournament of Champions.

Dent shot rounds of 70 and 69 at the waterlogged La Costa Resort for a one-shot edge over Al Geiberger (70-70) and George Archer (71-69).

Mike Hill, at 142, also proved to be a good mudder. Raymond Floyd, trying to score a double victory, was at 143, tied with Bob Charles, Tommy Aaron and Dave Stockton.

Dent, easily the longest hitter on the senior tour, said he is handicapped on many of the courses the older golfers play.

“On many holes, I can’t use my Big Bertha (driver),” he said. “We have to hit the ball around corners on beautiful old golf courses and I can’t use the driver.

“But this is what we call a straight course. I can unload on every hole. It made it even better for me when, because of Raymond, we are hitting from the back tees.”

Dent figured that the soft, wet conditions were also in his favor. Under these conditions, most of the drives stuck. But that left Dent far ahead of the other seniors. He also had an advantage on Floyd in that he rode about 10 of the holes.

“Even so, I am tired,” Dent said. “I don’t remember the last time I played 36 holes in one day. It’s probably been 10 years.”

As well as he scored, Dent figured he should have been four or five shots better.

“I should have been right there with the youngsters (Paul Azinger and Davis Love III, who were 10 under),” he said. “Coming home, I missed several short birdie putts and on eight and nine on the second round, I just made poor shots.”

Geiberger, the defending champion, acknowledged that he, too, was tired.

“I didn’t ride all that much,” he said. “But it’s a good feeling, knowing you can ride if you wish. The conditions didn’t help me as much as they did Jim, but it really hurt the short hitters. Guys like Don Massengale (who shot 154) were hitting woods on their second shots.

“I guess I play well here because it’s a straight course. There aren’t any tricks.”

Archer, recovering from flu, and most of the other players were amazed that they were able to play at all after the heavy rain.

“We couldn’t have played without the pick-and-clean rule,” he said, referring to the lifting and wiping of golf balls between shots. “And, even so, it was horrible out there. It was mostly unplayable. It was mush. One time I went back 15 yards just to find a place to hit off a knoll instead of in a swamp.

“I’m amazed I did as well as I did, but it sure didn’t help my flu.”