Nick Price is in danger of having his worst season on the U.S. Tour since 1985 but you would not know it by the way he played the first round at the $3.3 million Pennsylvania Classic yesterday.

The 44-year-old from Zimbabwe looked like his old self as he charged to eight under par at a beautiful Laurel Valley course softened by heavy morning rain that halted play for four hours.

Despite two late bogeys, a six-under 66 earned Price the early clubhouse lead, and reinforced the belief that he still has some good shots left in his aging body.

On a day when American flags fluttered from every hole - to honor victims of last week's attacks in New York and Washington - the leader board had a foreign feel.

With half the field back in the clubhouse, Price was one stroke ahead of Swede Per-Ulrik Johansson, who mixed eight birdies with a bogey and a double bogey. "If my putter works, things fall into place," said Price, Johansson also found his putting touch, rolling in eight birdies to more than counterbalance a bogey and a double bogey.

The European Ryder Cup board yesterday announced that individual holders of day and season tickets for the 34th Ryder Cup match, to be played at The Belfry from September 27th-29th, 2002, will be contacted in the near future.

They will be asked to respond within 90 days and indicate their choice of a refund or replacement tickets. The biennial contest was postponed on Sunday in the wake of the terrorist attacks in America.