There were geezers galore at the Masters, which couldn't have gotten off to a more classic start than Jack Nicklaus chasing Arnold Palmer.
"I was going out to the first tee, and people were saying, `Did you see what Arnie did, starting out with three birdies?' " Nicklaus said. "I told them that I couldn't let him be the low senior out there."So, the 53-year-old Nicklaus fired a 5-under-par 67 that included an eagle-3 on the 15th hole, and the six-time Masters champion was in a five-way tie for the lead entering today's second round. Nicklaus now is the oldest player to lead at any point during a Masters.
The 63-year-old Palmer, who's won four Masters but hasn't won on the tour in 20 years, wound up in more familiar old-timer territory with a 2-over 74, but not before he got the day going for some of the game's great gray players.
"I felt like I was 30 again," Palmer said. "I had visions of grandeur. The clubs felt like toothpicks I was so pumped."
Play began today under cloudy skies at 7:30 a.m. EDT, about an hour earlier than planned as Masters officials tried to get in the second round before the rain came. The weatherman forecast showers and possible thunderstorms by early afternoon.
Nicklaus was tied for the lead with Corey Pavin, Larry Mize, Tom Lehman and Lee Janzen, all mere children compared with him. One shot back loomed the ever-dangerous 50-year-old, Raymond Floyd, tied with Bernhard Langer and John Huston.
"When the major championships come around, the best players play their best golf," said Nicklaus, who won the Masters most recently in 1986 and has 20 major championship trophies in his case.
Nicklaus started his round with birdies on the first and second holes, and as he was standing on the third tee, Palmer was on the nearby seventh green.
"I tried to get his attention so I could say, `Come on, let's us old guys come on and play,' but I could get his attention," Nicklaus said. Nicklaus parred the third hole and made the turn at 2-under 34.
He got to 3-under when he holed a 25-footer on the par-3 12th hole, then came his only bad shot of the day. On the famous dogleg left par-5 13th, the end of Amen Corner, Nicklaus pulled his tee shot into the woods and wound up under an azalea bush.
He had to take an unplayable lie and settled for a bogey.
The eagle came on the next par-5, a 500-yarder, fairly straight with water in front of the green. Nicklaus stood over his second shot, 232 yards from the green, with a 1-iron in his hand.
"Then, I got to thinking maybe that was a little bit too much club," he said. So, he pulled out the 2-iron and knocked it within 8 feet for eagle.
He birdied No. 17 by sinking a 16-foot putt, and he wound up his round using only 27 putts.
"That's a pretty impressive round of golf for Jack," Pavin said. "He's fun to watch. I played with him yesterday. He played well, but I didn't think he would shoot 5-under. But then I didn't think I would shoot 5-under, either.
"That's the way Jack plays here. He plays mistake-free golf, and that's what you've got to do."
Tom Kite shot 73, and that wasn't bad for a guy who two days ago was in danger of missing the tournament because of muscle spasms in his back.
After two days of treatments and wearing a back brace, Kite teed off in the afternoon and birdied the second hole. He shot 1-under 35 on the front, but had 38 on the back with bogeys at 10 and 12.
Mize, an Augusta native who lives in Columbus, Ga., shot 33-34.
Lehman birdied the 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th holes to go 5-under, while Pavin did most of his scoring on the front side with birdies at Nos. 3, 6, 7 and 8.
Many of the pretournament favorites struggled in the first round. Two-time Masters champion Nick Faldo shot 71, PGA champion Nick Price of Zimbabwe and rookie Phil Mickelson carded 72s, Davis Love shot 73 and Greg Norman and Payne Stewart were at 74.