SAVANNAH, Ga., April 26 (UPI) -- Vicente Fernandez of Argentina grabbed the lead midway through a long Saturday at the Legends of Golf, shooting a 5-under-par 67.
Fernandez was one of 31 players in the 53-man field forced to play 36 holes Saturday after a series of heavy thunderstorms rendered the course unplayable Friday. Only two players completed as many as nine holes.
The first round resumed Saturday at 7:30 a.m. EDT.
Seeking his second win of the season, Fernandez had a bogey on each side, but he had three straight birdies on the front and four in a seven-hole stretch of the back to grab a one-shot lead.
Fernandez was scheduled to tee off in the second round at 3:30 p.m.
Morris Hatalksy and Fuzzy Zoeller shared second after signing for 68s. Hatalsky had the overnight lead at 2-under through four holes. Zoeller had yet to tee off before play was halted.
Dana Quigley, Mark McCumber and John Mahaffey shot 69s, a stroke better than a group of nine players that included Hale Irwin, Bruce Lietzke, Larry Nelson, Bob Gilder, Ray Floyd and Andy Bean.
Among those forced to play 36 holes Saturday were defending champion Doug Tewell, Irwin, Quigley, Zoeller, Lietzke, Nelson, Jim Thorpe, Gil Morgan, Bruce Fleisher, McCumber and Arnold Palmer.
The Legends of Golf spawned what is now known as the Champions Tour. The tournament started in 1978, and its purse of $400,000 was the largest in professional golf at the time.
The winners of the first event were Sam Snead and Gardner Dickinson, who topped Peter Thomson and Kel Nagle in the team best-ball format. The popularity of the event helped lead to the debut of the Senior PGA Tour two years later.
The tournament features the Raphael Division, which is a 36-hole two-man best-ball competition. Lietzke and Bill Rogers won the event in 2002 but will compete individually this year. Those in the indididual event play in the Legends Division.
First prize in the Legends Division is $350,000.
This is the first Champions Tour event to be held in Georgia since the 2000 Nationwide Championship in Alpharetta.
