Rodger Davis and Jim Ahern have always been able to hit the ball a long way off the tee, though in the end it has rarely been that big of an advantage.

Davis lost a chance at winning the British Open on two different occasions because of his errant approach shots or poor putting down the stretch. Ahern never had much of a career on the PGA Tour because of his inability to hit the type of shots he needed.

Yesterday, Davis and Ahern were in total control in the opening round of the $1.45 million Greater Baltimore Classic at Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley. They hit the ball long and straight, and made a bunch of birdie putts.

As a result, they share the lead with former PGA champion John Mahaffey at 7-under-par 65. Reigning U.S. Senior Open champion Bruce Fleisher, John Jacobs and Mike McCullough were two strokes back.

Four players - 66-year-old Dale Douglass, Bobby Wadkins, Bobby Walzel and Doug Tewell, the Senior Tour's only two-time winner this year in the field - finished at 4-under-par 68. Defending champion Allen Doyle shot 2-under 70.

"The week you hole some putts is usually the week you win," said Davis.

A 51-year-old Australian who won 28 events on the European and Australian tours between 1981 and 1996, Davis is still looking for his first win on the Senior Tour. With his only two top 10 finishes this year coming in the past month, Davis has tried to get into better shape off the course to improve his performance on it.

"I've been doing a little bit of training, if you can believe it," Davis said with a laugh, patting his still noticeable belly. "And it wasn't with a beer bottle."

The training came at a cost. As a result of the miles he has recently put in on the exercise bike and the treadmill - he either rides or runs for 40 minutes every day - Davis developed a couple of blisters on his left foot. He needed them to be treated before he went out to play early yesterday morning.

"If it wasn't for the golf carts and trainers, I wouldn't be shooting 7-under," he said.

Or his putter. Davis one-putted eight times and three-putted only once - for his only bogey on the par-3 eighth hole - and narrowly missed another birdie on the par-4 17th. Putting has never been the strength of his game.

"That's probably why you see me with the longer putter in my hand," said Davis.

Ahern is more of a conventional putter, but the former club pro carries a bunch of different metal woods in his bag depending on the kind of course he's playing. He even teed off with a 9-wood on one hole yesterday.

Unlike Davis or Mahaffey, who won 10 PGA Tour events during his career, Ahern didn't have much success until winning the 1999 Canadian Senior Open. His three years on the PGA Tour during the mid-1970s barely registered.

"I was not a household name," he said, tongue in cheek. "I had a few good tournaments, but I had a lot of bad tournaments. I never knew where my golf ball was going. I would go up to cut it and I would hit a pull-hook."

It wasn't until the late 1980s that Ahern, by then running corporate outings for the Ford Motor Co., figured out how to hit a fade. It gave him the confidence to try the Senior Tour, and he became just the seventh player to win an event after qualifying.

Ahern has been a solid player ever since, moving up to 24th on the money list last year, when he finished second at the Farmer Charity Classic, third at the Emerald Coast Classic and tied for sixth in the State Farm Senior Classic at Hayfields.

"I played well here last year, that's always a nice feeling going into the week," said Ahern, whose best finish this year was a tie for fifth at Bruno's Memorial Classic. "I just made some nice putts today. Anytime you're shooting something like that, you're making a lot of birdies."

Included among his seven birdies was a 50-footer on the par-4 13th. He later birdied the par-5 17th to tie Davis for the lead. Mahaffey took his share of the lead with the last of his seven birdies on the par-5 18th, from about 15 feet.

The most well-known of the three in the lead, Mahaffey has played to mixed results in his four seasons on the Senior Tour. He finished as high as 15th on the money list in 1999 after his only win - the Southwestern Bell Dominion - but fell to 43rd last year and has only one top 10 this year.

Recently, Mahaffey used some advice from J.C. Snead about the takeaway on his swing, and it produced a decent finish (tie for 11th) last week in Nashville. As was the case with both Davis and Ahern, yesterday's round was Mahaffey's best score of the year.

"I really haven't played as well as I could have," said Mahaffey, 54, who also lists the 1986 Tournament Players Championship among his victories. "I think the competition has been a lot better than I thought."

Davis, who finished tied for second behind Nick Faldo at the 1987 British Open and lost the lead in the 1979 British Open to Seve Ballesteros with five holes to play, had similar thoughts when he joined the Senior Tour last year.

"I came in with the wrong impression," Davis said. "I thought we were going to be playing on 6,500-yard courses. I can't believe how good these guys are out here with a 7-iron down."

Said Ahern: "It's pretty difficult to win. You've got to have some things go your way and you have to do everything well."