Nicklaus, 61, Shares Lead at 67

The Golden Bear is back.

Jack Nicklaus shot a four-under-par 67 on Friday for a share of the first-round lead with Doug Tewell in the Verizon Classic, a Senior PGA Tour event at Lutz, Fla.

“I managed my game well,” Nicklaus, 61, said of his bogey-free round on the TPC at Tampa Bay. “I didn’t play one of my better rounds of golf, but I scored one of my better rounds.”

He is winless since 1996.

“I haven’t had a lot of fun in my golf game since I got my hip done,” said Nicklaus, who had hip replacement surgery in January 1999. “I don’t want to be doing something I can’t do. I love playing golf. I don’t want to hack it around.”

Around Christmas, almost two years after his hip procedure, Nicklaus noticed a marked physical improvement.

“Guys have come back from it, but it takes a while,” Nicklaus said. “I didn’t think it would take that long. I just feel good. I’m tickled with that.”

Tewell overcame two front-nine bogeys with four birdies over the final seven holes.

“I had some bad breaks on the front nine,” Tewell said. “I stayed patient. The golf course was docile at the outset. The wind picked up on the back nine.”

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Scotland’s Catriona Matthew shot a one-under 71 to maintain her two-stroke lead after the second round of the wind-swept Hawaiian Ladies Open at Kapolei.

Matthew, who opened with a 67 on Thursday, had four birdies, a bogey and a double bogey on the Kapolei Golf Course. She is at six-under 138.

Nancy Scranton matched the tournament record with a 64 to join Vicki Goetze-Ackerman at 140.

Scranton, who began the round tied for 50th after an opening 76, birdied five of the last six holes.

“I was in a zone,” she said. “Some days you just see the line. I saw the line yesterday and my speed was very good. I just missed some short ones and got anxious.

“I really rolled it better today. Plus, there was less wind today, although there’s still a lot.”