Friday, April 24, 1998 | 8:28 a.m.
This time the early worm got the birds.
Teeing off shortly after sunrise when the conditions were still, tall and lean Dale Douglass took advantage of the optimum setting to squiggle around the golf course and up the leader board.
There was a quick eagle and a flurry of birdies. And before a paralyzing wind took hold, there he was with a 66 and the first-day lead in the Las Vegas Senior Classic.
Like a good dry cleaners, Douglass was in by 7 and out by noon.
"I got my mine," he said with glee of his low score, which, predictably, stood up throughout Thursday's windswept opening round at the TPC at Summerlin and TPC at The Canyons courses. Anyone teeing off from mid-morning on was in danger of not only being blown away but ruining his season-scoring average.
The average score at the par-72 Summerlin was 74.8 and at the par-71 Canyons it was 76.1. Only 11 players in the field of 78 broke par and of those 11 only two, John Bland and Jose Maria Canizares, teed off after 8:40 a.m.
"It's going to be tough," Douglass said as he came off the course, referring to anyone beating his score. "The wind is howling. It's a club and a half to two clubs difference from what it was earlier, and the greens will only get harder and harder."
Tame early, the two courses were tigers by afternoon when the Las Vegas valley was subject to a wind advisory.
Those who played in the pre-noon tranquility were the envy of their peers.
"Of course these things even out," Douglass said. "I have to play the second round in the afternoon and if it's windy then I'll be the one with my hands full."
At 6-2 and 170 pounds, Douglass has the physique of a weather vane. Yet even he was affected by the increasingly inclement conditions by the time he reached the final two holes of his round, and he bogeyed both holes to drop back to six-under par after once sitting at minus-8.
"At 17 the ball was jiggling on the green," he said of the gusty situation at Summerlin, one that led him to back away from a three-foot putt not once but twice. He eventually missed that putt and then three-putted from 30 feet on No. 18 before seeking shelter in the clubhouse.
He emerged after lunch, however, to hit some balls on the range and regale his fellow pros with his good fortune.
"Sixty-six is a decent score but it's not quite as important as it would be if this was still a three-round tournament," he said. In the new four-round format, there remains work to be done and it could be a challenge to a man who hasn't won in two years and just saw his 62nd birthday.
"To think that we're old and can't play good golf anymore just isn't accurate," Douglass said not only of himself but of his PGA Senior Tour colleagues. "I don't know if the skills have to erode. I don't know why I can't play good at 62 -- although that startles me every time I say it."
He was clever and he was having fun. He was in the lead.
"I've always felt I could play pretty well when I get things going," he said, and he certainly had things going on the front side when he eagled the par-5 third hole and collected birdies at Nos. 2, 5, 6, 8 and 9. He also birdied No. 10 with still another mid-range putt.
"My (amateur) partners were really smiling," Douglass said of his impact on their team score. "They'd never seen anything like it and neither had I. I rolled everything right into the center of the hole."
Two back after 18 of what eventually will be 72 holes is South African Hugh Baiocchi, who was teeing off on No. 10 at Summerlin as Douglas was teeing off on No. 1. His 68 had him contentedly nursing a sucker as he addressed the press.
"The course was playing fairly easy when I was out there," he said. "We had the best of conditions -- it was perfect until at least 12."
Aside from hitting a 3-iron into the water at No. 17, Baiocchi played error-free golf. That one bogey was more than offset by five birdies and he praised his short game, saying "any time I missed a green I was able to get up and down. I putted real well."
Few could say the same.
"I finally got one in my range," tour money leader Gil Morgan said to the fans following him after he tapped in an 18-inch putt for a birdie at No. 17 at Summerlin. Morgan, who would go on to shoot a three-over 75, continually missed from 10, 12 and 15 feet as he battled a balky putter and the afternoon bluster.
While they played in the morning, the other two-thirds of the tour's dominant trio failed to take full advantage of their blessing. Defending Las Vegas Senior Classic champion and 1997 tour money leader Hale Irwin carded a two-under 69 at The Canyons -- which, remember, has a par of 71 -- and Larry Nelson settled for a one-under par 71 at Summerlin.
* NOTES: TV coverage of the tournament begins today on ESPN with a noon telecast. ... Dale Douglass also leads in the "tournament within the tournament" for players age 60 and over. His 66 was seven shots better than Orville Moody. Twenty-one players in the field are 60 or over and the man with the lowest score through four rounds receives an extra $18,000. ... This year's first prize is $210,000. ... Toughest hole at The Canyons after one round is No. 11 while No. 18 played the toughest at Summerlin. Easiest: No. 4 at The Canyons and No. 3 at Summerlin. ... This is the first time this year Douglass has led a tournament after any round. His best 1998 finish is a tie for second at the LG Championship Feb. 8 in Naples, Fla., although he and Charles Coody took the team title in the Legends of Golf event March 22 at Amelia Island, Fla. ... Flashback: After one round in last year's Las Vegas Senior Classic, Gil Morgan and Isao Aoki were tied with 66s at The Canyons. Douglas tied for 36th in Las Vegas last year.
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