THE LONG-HITTERS John Daly and Laura Davies posted a bogey-free eight-under-par 63 to share the first-round lead at the JC Penney Classic at Palm Harbour, Florida.

They joined the defending champions, Steve Pate and Meg Mallon, and the pairing of Rory Sabbatini and Pat Hurst at the top of the leaderboard in the 72-hole better-ball event.

Davies and Daly began on the 10th hole and recorded four birdies before adding four more on the front half.

"We do really well with the better-ball format," said Davies. "If we can just be solid the other days, we'd have a shot at it. We just don't hole enough putts. If we can just putt half decent the rest of the week we are going to have a really big chance."

The teams of Greg Kraft-Michelle McGann, Frank Lickliter-Jan Stephenson, Tom Scherrer-Barb Mucha, and Tom Pernice-Michelle Estill were one shot behind with 64s.

The teams two strokes adrift included Justin Leonard and Juli Inkster, who included two majors among her five title wins this season.