Big Three Back in the Spotlight

Senior golf got just what it needed Thursday, the return of the Big Three.

For at least a day, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were again on the center stage in the world of golf.

The 71-year-old Palmer shot his age, Nicklaus, 61, matched his best round of the year in relation to par with a four-under 68 and the 65-year-old Player had a 70 as the trio stole all the attention in the first round of the Senior PGA Championship at Paramus, N.J.

You almost had to feel sorry for Jim Thorpe, who was hardly noticed in grabbing the lead with six birdies in a 67 on the tree-lined Ridgewood Country Club.

Nicklaus, Bob Gilder and Larry Nelson were a shot behind on the 6,904-yard course and one ahead of Hale Irwin, Jim Colbert and Doug Johnson. Player and defending champion Doug Tewell, who eagled the par-four 14th with a six-iron from 167 yards, were three back and one ahead of the pack led by Palmer.

“I don’t think it’s too early to get excited about it,” Nicklaus said. “I don’t know whether it means anything except that I’m not nine shots out of the lead, which is my usual place.”

Stuart Appleby, using a folded piece of paper as his yardage book because the pro shop ran out of them, set a tournament record with six consecutive birdies to share the lead after the first round of the Kemper Insurance Open at Potomac, Md.

“It’s not a thrill, a thrill is winning the tournament,” said Appleby, who won the Kemper in 1998. “It’s like leading after five laps at the Indy, and you spin out at the next turn and you’re done. You can’t count your chickens on that one.”

Appleby started on the back nine and birdied holes 12 through 17--including a chip-in at the 16th--in a six-under round of 65 that tied him with Chris DiMarco and J.J. Henry. The streak broke the record of five set by four players, most recently Neal Lancaster in 1998.

Johanna Head of England shot a seven-under 65 and held a one-shot lead over three players--including Kellee Booth of Rancho Santa Margarita--after the first round of the LPGA Corning Classic at Corning, N.Y.

Head was playing only her fourth tournament of the year and eighth in three years on tour.

Tied for second were Booth, Jane Crafter of Australia and Peru’s Jenny Lidback.

Booth, who started on the back nine, said she knew it was her day on No. 18.

“I hit my tee shot underneath one of the pine trees on the left and thought I hit a really good second shot out,” she said. “It clipped one little piece of tree and ended up in the middle of the fairway.”

From there, Booth hit a wedge within 10 feet, saved par, then used her third eagle of the season, on one of the course’s three short par-5s, to move close to the lead.

“It’s the best round of my career, just real consistent,” said Booth, a former star at Arizona State. “Aside from a bogey on No. 1, I hit the ball fairly well, hit it in the right places and made some putts.”

Brenda Corrie Kuehn, who is eight months pregnant, has been cleared by her obstetrician to play in next week’s U.S. Women’s Open.

Caddying for Kuehn will be her husband, who is a physician.

“If she goes into labor, I’m going to be more panicked than anyone else,” Eric Kuehn said.