Associated Press
Saturday, April 15

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. -- Doug Tewell treated the final three holes of his first round Saturday like a warmup.

He was just getting started.

Tewell pared Nos. 16, 17 and 18, finishing his opening round of the PGA Seniors' Championship at 4-under par 68 and gaining a share of the lead. Then he shot a bogey-free 66 in Saturday's second round and was the clubhouse leader at 10-under 134 when play was suspended for the sixth time in three days.

	Doug Tewell got out early for his second round and took advantage of soft greens.

Tewell was four shots ahead of Dana Quigley when play was halted by heavy rain. Some 91 players were unable to start or finish the second round, including Quigley, who was 6 under through six holes.

Larry Nelson was 5 under through seven holes, and Japan's Seiji Ebihara -- the other first-round co-leader -- dropped to 3 under after three holes. Tom Kite shot a 6-under 66 and is lurking four behind the leader.

Second-round play is scheduled to resume Sunday morning.

They will try to finish the second and third rounds Sunday and play the final 18 holes Monday, said Kerry Haigh, the PGA's senior director of tournaments. But the weather might not cooperate, especially with more rain in the forecast.

"The greens are flooded, the bunkers were flooded and the fairways are flooded," Haigh said. "Can it take much more? It can keep taking little bits, but we'd much prefer it to stop."

If only three rounds are completed by Monday, then the championship would be decided through 54 holes.

"It doesn't really matter how many holes you play as long as you say, 'OK, we're going to finish the tournament and ... you're going to have a chance to choke your guts out,"' Kite said.

Three days of rain -- totaling more than 6 inches -- have left the course ripe for scoring. The Bermuda greens were soft, in some places slushy, allowing players to shoot right at the pins.

A former television commentator for The Golf Channel, Tewell had a bogey-free round. He made six birdies, including a near-miss eagle.

Tewell, 50, made his debut on the senior tour last fall. He missed the first five tournaments because of a back injury he sustained the day after his 50th birthday.

He was playing golf with his son last August and felt a twinge in his lower back after a tee shot.

"All of a sudden, I could hardly walk back to get in the cart we were playing in," Tewell said. "The next thing I knew, I was laying prone on the floor in my master bedroom in agony. And for the next three days, I couldn't even move."

Tewell initially feared he had ruptured a disc, but it turned out to be an acute sciatica attack. The injury came two days before he was scheduled to leave for his first senior tournament event, in Kansas City.

"I cried that night," he said. "I cried like a baby. I was very scared. I never had it hurt like this."

Recovering from the injury, Tewell's best finish last year was a tie for 15th. A four-time winner on the PGA Tour, he has much higher expectations for 2000.

"I do expect to win," Tewell said. "I expect to win 10 or more times out here. I'll be very disappointed if I don't."

He spent three years (1996-98) working for The Golf Channel. His experience in the booth taught him one thing: be patient, something he has put to the test this week with the weather.

"Players have a lot of train wrecks out there. They make a lot of mistakes," he said. "I think I always had this premonition that the leaders didn't make mistakes, and that they hit the ball perfect."

Divots: Doyle Corbett's first shot of the morning rolled into the cup on the par-3 7th for a hole-in-one. With his fourth career ace, Corbett finished the first round with a 74. ... Wendell Coffee, the only golfer using a cart in the tournament, shot a second-round 78 and will miss the cut at 14-over par 158. ... Two-time Seniors' Championship winner Arnold Palmer shot a 1-under 71 in the second round, but will miss the cut after at two-round total of 158. ... Six golfers have withdrawn from play, including Bob Duval and Doug Sanders. ... The tournament, one of four majors on the senior tour, is being sponsored by Advil.