Quigley one shot back
Associated Press
NAPLES, Fla. (Feb. 9) -- Spain's Jose Maria Canizares shot a 4-under-par 68 to take a one-stroke lead over Dana Quigley and Mike McCullough in the ACE Group Classic.
Canizares, seeking his first senior title, made a 25-foot eagle putt on No. 16 and played the final four holes in 4 under on Friday. He lost to Lanny Wadkins last year on the third hole of a playoff.
"I like difficult courses," Canizares said of the Pelican Marsh Golf Club course. "Every year I try to win. I need a little more luck, maybe, I don't know."
With high rough and firm greens making the course difficult, only 15 players broke par and the scoring average was 74.359. Last year, 38 players were below par and the average was 71.692.
"I don't know what's gotten into these guys, but they all said they wanted harder greens and longer rough," Quigley said. "I sure hope that's really what they wanted because that's what we have. "It makes it much more demanding. I don't know if they're going to want this every week, but it's really good for a change to really have to golf your ball to score well. The firmness of the greens is just unreal. It's kind of almost like a U.S. Open-type of situation."
Canizares' 68 is the highest first-round score to lead a senior tour event since last year's SBC Senior Open in Chicago.
Hugh Baiocchi, John Bland, Bruce Summerhays and Jim Ahern opened with 70s.
Larry Nelson, trying to become the first senior tour player to win the season's first three events, shot a 72.
"I had four three-putts today and anytime you do that you're not going to have a real good score," Nelson said. "I never knew how hard to hit it or how much break to play. I don't know that I can learn enough in the next two days to make it any different.
"I actually felt like if I putted with my 3-iron on the backside, I might've shot under par."
Tom Kite, Doug Tewell and 1999 champion Allen Doyle also shot 72s. Tom Watson had a 73, and Wadkins struggled to a 74.
"I think the pin positions are a lot tougher this year, without question," Watson said. "The pins were right on the edges of the greens and if you missed it on the short side, you had a problem getting the ball up and down."
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