EAST PROVIDENCE _ Otis Brown and Don Gallagher were having an enjoyable day on Monday when they arrived at the 18th tee at the Agawam Hunt Club.

     Competing in the 25th RIGA Ed Perry Senior Four-Ball Championship, the team had piled up five birdies (three by Brown, two by Gallagher) against only one bogey. They did not know it yet, but they were in the tournament lead by the time they reached the final hole in mid-afternoon.

     Their day only got better from there.

     Brown rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt on the 410-yard downhill hole, giving the two Wannamoisett members a 5-under-par 64 and a two-stroke lead in an otherwise tightly bunched field. Gallagher had birds on 5 and 15 and a 72 on his ball. Brown had birds at 6, 10 and 11 in addition to 18 on the way to a 69 on his ball.

     The Crestwood team of Peter Rochford and Scott Simmons overcame a slow start (bogey on the first hole) on the way to a 3-under 66 and second place.

     The day also included a hole-in-one by Mike Rigney on the 172-yard second hole with a six iron.

     “It landed about four feet from the hole and rolled in,” he said.

     It was the eighth hole in one for Rigney and the second in this tournament.

     “I made one on 17 at Warwick when this tournament was there three years ago,” he said.   He and his partner Bill Johnson shot a 74.

     While the two teams at the top of the leader board are relatively new in the event, many of the others not only were familiar names, they are former tournament champions. No fewer than six teams that have previously won the event had solid days to put themselves in contention.

     And that does not even include the team of Dean Parziale and Darren Corrente. Parziale combined with Eugene DiSarro to win the tourney last year. DiSarro is not playing this year so Parziale joined with fellow Metacomet member Darren Corrente. They put together a 67 that included birds by Parziale at 6 and 7 and birds by both at 9. That left them in a tie for third with four others teams, including three that are previous champs.

     George Donnell and Jon Fasick won the event in 2009 but have not played recently because Pawtucket’s Donnell moved to Florida. The two worked together as well as usual on Monday, combining for five birds on the way to their 67.

     Paul Quigley has won the event three times, twice with Nick Cioe and in 2010 with Mike Soucy. The 73-year-old Quigley continued his impressive play as he partnered with Soucy once again. While Soucy played solidly, he could not help the Hall of Fame Quigley who had 67 on his own ball.

     The team of Tom Goryl and Marc Forbes, who won in 2011, also put themselves in the tie at 67 with work that included four birds in the first 10 holes by Goryl, then two birds in the final eight by Forbes.

     The Quinnatisset team of Mike Fredrickson and Rocky Bedard also earned a spot in the third place tie with a 67 despite being 2-over through four. They had five birds and only one bogey the rest of the way to stand at 2-under. Late finishers Hermen Dacones and John Phillips made it six teams in the third-place tie. They were one of the few teams to play without a bogey. They had 16 pars and two birds by Dacones.

     Seven more teams posted 68 and five more matched par 69, including 2007 winners Bill Campbell and Charlie Hayes.  Five-time champions Tom Acciardo and George Pirie settled for a 70 as Pirie played despite being treated recently for vertigo issues.