Tway of Old Surfaces at Staging Ground

His hair is shorter, his goals are less lofty and his game is nowhere near what it was 11 years ago. But on Thursday, Bob Tway found himself in nearly the same position he was in back in 1986--leading the Buick Invitational after the first round.

Tway shot a pair of 32s on Torrey Pines’ North Course for an eight-under-par 64 and the first-round lead. In 1986, Tway was a nobody from Edmond, Okla., when he opened with a 67 at the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open, this event’s former name.

He went on to win the tournament in a playoff with Bernhard Langer, setting the stage for his biggest year on the PGA Tour.

Tway won three more tournaments that year, among them the PGA Championship, and he finished second on the money list. His best year-end ranking since then has been 17th in 1989. His worst, 179th in 1992.

This year, Tway has been back to being a nobody. He tied for 71st in the Bob Hope and tied for 34th at the Phoenix Open, the only events he has played. Thursday, however, he stayed out of the deep rough and putted well, sinking several long downhill putts on the North Course, which is 408 yards shorter than the South and yielded six of the day’s seven lowest scores.

Tway, who last won in the MCI Classic in Hilton Head, S.C., in 1995, said he’s happy to be leading but knows one round doesn’t make a year.

“My goal is to play as little golf as I can,” he said. “The year’s still young. I got away from that goal-setting stuff. I’d like to get one tournament a year. That’s good for me.”

Jay Don Blake, who scored his only PGA Tour victory here in 1991, is a stroke behind, along with Taylor Smith and Olin Browne, who shot his 65 on the South Course. Dan Forsman, Frank Lickliter, a last-minute replacement for Dave Rummels, and Tom Pernice Jr. all shot 66s on the North.

Browne, who shot a 31 on the front nine, his last nine holes, had a separated joint between his collarbone and chest and missed the last part of last season. He has missed two of three cuts but he’s found his swing here.

“I’m trying to feel my way back into form,” he said. “Last year, I couldn’t shake the one-bad-round syndrome. I’d shoot a 73 and that’d be it. You shoot a 73 out here and you’re not going to win a lot of money.”

Smith could have won a lot of money at last year’s Disney Classic but he was disqualified after the final round for having nonconforming grips on his putter. If he had not been disqualified, Smith would have tied Tiger Woods for first place after 72 holes.

“Hopefully, I’ll be remembered for something other than being the ‘putter guy,’ ” Smith said. “Paul Azinger told me, ‘One day, you won’t remember how much it cost you.’ ”

John Daly is seven strokes behind after shooting a ho-hum 71 on the South Course. But Daly’s ninth hole of the round, on No. 18, was anything but ho-hum. He hammered his drive about 340 yards on the par 498-yard hole. It landed under a tree right of the fairway. He tried to draw a seven-iron underneath the tree and onto the green, but the ball bounced over the grandstands.

“We should have been twice as alert with Daly,” said Charlie Pusak, a course marshal who was not wearing his hard hat. “[He] nearly killed us.”

Daly’s ball landed underneath a table holding souvenir clothing, an unplayable lie. He took a drop in the rough, 60 yards in front of the green, pitched to within three feet and tapped in for an adventuresome birdie four.

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The Leaders

BUICK INVITATIONAL

At Torrey Pines--Par 72

Bob Tway 32-32--64 -8

Jay Don Blake 32-33--65 -7

Olin Browne 34-31--65 -7

Taylor Smith 32-33--65 -7

Dan Forsman 34-32--66 -6

Frank Lickliter 31-35--66 -6

Tom Pernice Jr. 34-32--66 -6

Dave Stockton 32-35--67 -5

Brad Fabel 33-34--67 -5

Joel Edwards 32-35--67 -5

Craig Stadler 34-33--67 -5

Skip Kendall 33-34--67 -5

Mark Wiebe 32-35--67 -5

Mike Brisky 35-32--67 -5

Steve Lowery 33-34--67 -5

Mark O’Meara 36-31--67 -5

Tom Kite 33-34--67 -5

Ed Fiori 35-32--67 -5

David Ogrin 35-32--67 -5

* COMPLETE SCORES, C11