GOLF PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP : Tway Leads at 65 With Europeans Well Behind

PONTE VEDRA, Fla. — Bob Tway slipped into the lead and the heralded Europeans slipped back into the pack in the first round of the Players Championship.

“A strange game,” Tway said Thursday.

He was talking about a chip-in for one of his seven birdies in a bogey-free round of 65 over the TPC at Sawgrass, the home course for the PGA Tour.

His assessment applied with equal accuracy to the performance of the Europeans Nick Faldo calls “The Big Six.”

Faldo, the Englishman who holds the British Open and Masters titles, leads the group that also includes Sandy Lyle of Scotland, Ian Woosnam of Wales, Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain and Bernhard Langer of Germany.

Together, they have dominated world golf over the past few years, and are the heart of the team that has held the Ryder Cup for six years.

Only Langer could break par 72 Thursday. He had a 70 that left about three dozen players ahead of him. Ballesteros, Faldo, Lyle and Woosnam, a winner last week in New Orleans, all shot 72. Olazabal was at 74.

Four men were one stroke off the lead at 66. Six others--including Paul Azinger--were at 67 and more than half the field of 144 broke par.

Greg Norman was not among them. He shot 75.

Tom Watson and U.S. Open champ Hale Irwin topped the large gathering at 68.