Thorpe stays in front as "Big Three" toil

Jim Thorpe held on to his one-stroke lead on Friday but, after a glorious opening round, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player fell back and Arnold Palmer missed the halfway cut at the U.S. PGA Senior Championship.

Thorpe returned a 69 for an eight-under-par total of 136, one better than rookie Bob Gilder after two rounds.

It all went wrong early for Palmer, 71 -- who shot his age 24 hours earlier -- as he hit his first two shots into the water for a quadruple bogey eight at the opening hole. He eventually finished with a sad 83 for a 10-over-par aggregate of 154.

Nicklaus, 61, could only manage a 75 and Player, 65, carded a 73 as both made the cut by the narrowest of margins. Nicklaus was one shot off the lead at the end of the first round, and Player was only two strokes further back.

The highlight of Thorpe's round came at the par five 13th when he holed his bunker shot for an eagle. He started the round badly, bogeying two of his first three holes before making birdies on three of the next four.

Thorpe wound up with one eagle, five birdies and four bogeys on an unseasonably cool and damp day. "All in all, it wasn't a bad day based on the weather conditions," he said.

The 52-year-old is 15th on the money list this year after four top 10 finishes.

CASINO VISIT
Thorpe, who visited a casino the night before, feels he has mellowed with age.

"I believe in going to the racetrack, betting horses, stopping at a casino, buying a new pair of slacks or a new shirt, stuff like that," he said.

"I'm one of the only guys out here, other than John Jacobs and a couple other guys, that really have a lot of fun."

Gilder, who started the round tied for second place at four-under, also fired a 69 to remain a shot back. He is in contention despite suffering with pain in both knees.

"They're not that bad, they don't hurt my swing at all," he said. "It just hurts to walk. I have to be careful walking. It's just the last couple of weeks when they started hurting pretty bad."

Bruce Fleisher birdied the 18th to gain sole possession of third place on five-under, one stroke ahead of Alan Doyle. Four players were three-under, including Tom Watson and Stewart Ginn, who recorded the day's best score -- a four-under 68.

Hale Irwin, three times a winner of this event and on a streak of six straight top-three finishes, began on three-under but carded a 75, his worst round of the year.

"The way I was going out there, I could have hurt myself," he said. "I think the course has a little more teeth to it today."

Lee Trevino, who beat Nicklaus by two strokes to win the 1990 U.S. Open Senior here at the Ridgewood Country Club, also assured himself of a spot this weekend. He was two under overall after a level par 72.