PORTLAND (AP) – Three golfers fired a 4-under-par 67 to share the first-round lead Wednesday as the Greater Portland Open got under way at Riverside Golf Course.

The leaders were Dan LaPierre of Springfield, Mass., Jeffrey Dantas of Pawtucket, R.I., and Jerry DiPhilippo of Gorham. Former PGA tour commissioner Deane Beman shot a 71 to equal par.

Six-time Maine Amateur women’s champ Abby Spector, who accepted an invitation to compete, carded a 75 from the men’s tees.

, said she was playing in the tournament at the invitation of its director, Blaine Davis.

Spector was driving from the men’s tees, just as Annika Sorenstam did.

in the PGA Tour’s Colonial Invitational. But Spector waved off any comparisons with Sorenstam, noting that it was not the first time she competed in the Greater Portland Open.

The 54-hole tournament, which runs through Friday, has a top prize of $8,000 and an overall purse of $24,000.