Fans Cheer Palmer In Comeback Start

The siren began to wail as Arnold Palmer, tanned and relaxed, emerged from the scoring tent after signing for an 81.

“I’m glad I’m not in that ambulance,” he cracked.

Then he paused, considering his first round of competitive golf since prostate cancer surgery Jan. 15.

“It’s great to be out here,” he said softly.

The King was back where he belongs, charming galleries with his winks and waves, hitching his pants and attacking each drive, snapping his follow-through to a halt so he could peer at the flight of the ball.

The Bay Hill Invitational at Orlando, Fla., had a familiar look to it - Paul Stankowski taking the first-round lead with a 67, large galleries following Tiger Woods.

And Palmer.

“I felt wonderful out there,” Palmer said. “I feel very lucky to be out there playing.”

Palmer’s score was nowhere near the 5-under-par 67 that Stankowski shot at Bay Hill Club. And the 300 or so people who watched Palmer’s every move were not nearly as many as the throng that followed Woods to a 4-under 68.

Still, Palmer showed the go-for-broke game that brought masses to the game 40 years ago. He was cheered at every green, topped by a standing ovation on No. 18.

Barb Mucha, playing her first tournament since mid-January, tied the course record with an 8-under-par 65 to take a one-shot lead over Dawn Coe-Jones after the opening round of the LPGA Standard Register Ping at Phoenix.

Mucha’s bogey-free round matched the Moon Valley Country Club mark set by Amy Alcott in 1988 and equaled by Patty Sheehan in 1993 and Nancy Lopez in 1994.

Robin Walton of Clarkston shared sixth place with a 70. Tracy Hanson of Rathdrum, Idaho, is six shots off the lead at 71.