ASSOCIATED PRESS Hale Irwin shared the first-round lead yesterday with Gil Morgan, Keith Fergus and Allen Doyle.

Irwin has company
at the top

Four players sit atop a tight
leaderboard; 21 are within
two strokes

Hale Irwin is at the top of the $1.6 million Turtle Bay Championship leaderboard. No surprise there. But at this point, he's not alone.

Joining him at 5-under 67 yesterday were Gil Morgan, Keith Fergus and Allen Doyle as the Arnold Palmer-designed course proved very inviting with the light Kona winds. There were another five golfers just one shot back at 4-under 68, including 2005 MasterCard Championship winner Dana Quigley.

Today's tee times All times hawaii time 8:40 a.m.: Larry Stubblefield, Dick McClean, Arnold Palmer. 8:51 a.m.: Walter Zembriski, Mike McCullough, Brad Schmierer. 9:02 a.m.: Gary Robison, Hubert Green, Babe Hiskey. 9:13 a.m.: DeWitt Weaver, Rocky Thompson, Vicente Fernandez. 9:24 a.m.: Larry Ziegler, Dave Eichelberger, Jimmy Powell. 9:35 a.m.: Daniel Nishimoto, Hajime Meshiai, Norm Jarvis. 9:46 a.m.: Howard Twitty, Mark James, Doug Tewell. 9:57 a.m.: Dave Barr, Ed Fiori, Ron Streck. 10:08 a.m.: Mike San Filippo, Leonard Thompson, Jim Colbert. 10:19 a.m.: Bob Eastwood, Pat McGowan, Fuzzy Zoeller. 10:30 a.m.: Mark Johnson, Tom Herzan, John Fought. 10:41 a.m.: Lonnie Nielsen, Graham Marsh, Lee Trevino. 10:52 a.m.: Tom Jenkins, Jim Ahern, Pete Oakley. 11:03 a.m.: Don Pooley, Jerry Pate, Isao Aoki. 11:14 a.m.: Bruce Fleisher, Tom Watson, Mark McNulty. 11:25 a.m.: Walter Hall, John Harris, D.A. Weibring. 11:36 a.m.: Don Reese, Tom McKnight, John Ross. 11:47 a.m.: Tom Purtzer, John Jacobs, Bruce Summerhays. 11:58 a.m.: Mike Ferguson, Joe Inman, Brad Bryant. 12:09 p.m.: Larry Nelson, David Eger, Gary Player. 12:20 p.m.: Hugh Baiocchi, Mike Reid, Bruce Lietzke. 12:31 p.m.: Jay Sigel, R.W. Eaks, Bobby Wadkins. 12:42 p.m.: Dick Mast, Rodger Davis, Morris Hatalsky. 12:53 p.m.: Bob Gilder, Wayne Levi, Jim Thorpe. 1:04 p.m.: Allen Doyle, Gary McCord, Dana Quigley. 1:15 p.m.: Keith Fergus, Gil Morgan, Hale Irwin.

"Where's Hale now?" Quigley asked. "Still only 5-under? He'd better go for the jugular, because there're a lot of guys hanging around the leaderboard."

Irwin threatened to run away with it early, birdieing the first four holes. But as he put it, "Everything came to a screeching halt after that. I started thinking about how low could I go and you never should do that. I may feel better later, but right now it feels like a missed opportunity."

The defending champion shot 31 on the front but a routine 36 coming in to allow a host of golfers an opportunity to keep Irwin from winning the same event an unprecedented five consecutive times. The par-72 course played short from the tee box but long on the slow greens as many players tried to adjust from the slick, quick surface at last week's MasterCard at the Hualalai Golf Club.

There are 21 golfers within two strokes of the lead, including Gary Player, who shot his age with a 3-under 69. He birdied the 18th and said he was looking forward to the weekend. There were 11 other golfers who shot 69, including Wayne Levi and Dick Mast, who triple bogeyed the par-4 17th to keep him from breaking away from the pack.

A total of 45 golfers finished in the red, including Lee Trevino at 1-under 71. Irwin said the course was set up a little easier to accommodate the wide range of golfers in the field. As an example, the par-3 fourth was 66 yards shorter than its normal 210.

"We're still very capable players out here," Irwin said. "It's not a distance issue. It has to come down to quality golf. Sometimes I think we go the other direction where quality golf is not necessarily rewarded like it needs to be."

Irwin began with five birdies on six holes to find himself one shot ahead of a host of early clubhouse leaders. But after that, the demons inside his head kept telling him a 59 might be in the making.

"My start was essentially the day," Irwin said. "After the birdie at No. 6, it was like someone turned the tap off."

At last week's MasterCard, Irwin finished one shot behind eventual winner Quigley and Tom Watson. Irwin wound up tied for third with Morgan, so the quality golf he displayed on the Big Island came with him on the trip over to Oahu. But apparently, it followed several others as well.

"I played great today," Quigley declared in the media room. "I didn't have a bogey and I left a few out there on the course I wish I had now. But it was still a reasonably good round of golf for me. I'm still in contention. I thought Hale was going to run away with it."

Quigley opened with a routine 1 under on the front, but came back strong with three birdies on the back. With the Kona wind kicking up very little dust, Quigley noted that nearly everyone could reach the par-5s in two.

"And during Thursday's pro-am when the wind was blowing like crazy, there wasn't a single golfer out here who reached either of those two par-5s in two. No way. So the course was there for the taking.

"The big difference is the greens. The course is in fabulous condition, but I like the greens at Hualalai because that's the kind I grew up on. These, you've got to hit it hard and trust you've got the right line."

Doyle also had a bogey-free round and had a chance to go to 6-under 66 with a birdie at the 18th, but misread his putt just a touch. Still, he was pleased to be tied for the lead.

"The first day I don't get too excited," said Doyle, who hit all 18 greens in regulation. "I get excited on Sunday. I hit the ball well today. With that little bit of wind, I thought the scores might have been a bit lower. But it was a good first round for me."