Doyle cards 66, tops Tradition

Kite, four others trail by one at major senior tournament

? Allen Doyle, who turned pro at age 47 and has become one of the top players on the Senior PGA Tour, shot a 6-under-par 66 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Countrywide Tradition.

Five players, including Tom Kite, were one stroke back in the first major championship of the senior season. Four others were two shots off the lead as the seniors tore apart the 3-year-old Prospector Course designed by Jack Nicklaus and son Gary.

The tournament moved to Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club on the far eastern outskirts of the Phoenix area from Desert Mountain in Scottsdale, another Nicklaus course where the event spent its first 13 years.

Nicklaus, returning to play after withdrawing from the Legends of Golf and the Masters because of a back injury, shot a 1-over 73 on the 7,228-yard course.

“I feel fine,” said Nicklaus, a four-time winner in the tournament. “I probably got a little tired as we went on because I just haven’t had any competition, but I’ll get better as the week goes on. I’ll get stronger.”

Joining Kite at 67 were Don Pooley, Dick Mast, Jim Thorpe and Rocky Thompson. Fuzzy Zoeller, John Jacobs, Bruce Fleisher and Jose Maria Canizares opened with 68s, and defending champion Doug Tewell shot a 71 despite a double-bogey on the par-4, 370-yard 15th.