Golf Roundup : Kite Takes a Penalty, Ties for the Lead

Despite a self-imposed penalty shot, Tom Kite managed to coax a hard-earned 70 from a difficult 35-m.p.h. wind and moved into a tie for the lead at 141 Friday in the second round of the $400,000 Doral-Eastern Open golf tournament at Miami.

Jack Nicklaus, who had an opening 76, turned his tournament around with a four-under-par 68--the best round of the day--and moved into contention at 144.

“I hit the ball very well,” Nicklaus said. “I’ve improved with every tournament this year. I just need to play several good rounds in one tournament, have a good tournament and get a little more confidence.”

Said Kite: “It was at least a two-club wind, maybe a three-club wind at times. I won last year at 17 under (par). That score could win by 12 or 13 shots in winds like this.”

He shared the 36-hole lead with former Doral winner Mark McCumber and Gary Hallberg. McCumber had a second-round 71 and Hallberg a 70.

Kite would have had the lead alone but for the penalty on his 13th hole. He missed the green, removed a leaf from behind his ball, addressed it, then saw the ball move a fraction of an inch. He called the penalty.

“I’d just bogeyed two holes in a row, and now I get a penalty,” Kite said. “I’m going from four under par to what looks like oblivion.

“Then I chipped it in for a par.”

That save kept him close, and he regained a share of the lead with a 15-foot birdie putt on his 16th.

While not in contention, U.S. Open champ Fuzzy Zoeller achieved his goal of making the cut. Zoeller, in his first start since major back surgery last year, said before the tournament that he hoped only to qualify for the final two rounds of play. He did that with a 73 and a 147 total.

Bill Kratzert, with a 73 that included a double-bogey on the 18th hole, was at 143. So was rookie Greg Twiggs, the first-round leader. Twiggs, who bogeyed four holes in a row, finished with a 75.

British Open champion Seve Ballesteros of Spain opened his 1985 season in frustrating fashion. Ballesteros, who represents Doral on the American tour, had a 76 and a 154 total. He failed to qualify for the final two rounds.

Betsy King, the top money winner on the 1984 LPGA tour, and Anne-Marie Palli shot two-under-par 70s, with each getting an eagle, to share the lead after the second round of the $175,000 Tucson Open.

After matching their first-round scores, the leaders were at 140 after 36 holes over the 6,212-yard Randolph Golf Course.

Judy Clark and Lisa Young also carded 70s and were one stroke behind the leaders at 141. Deadlocked at 142 were Hall of Famer Kathy Whitworth; Japan’s Ayako Okamoto, who won here in 1982; and Hollis Stacy, whose 69 matched the lowest round shot Friday.

Palli, 29, a native of France, tied King, one of the early finishers, by driving her second shot 221 yards to within 18 inches of the cup on her final hole. She sank the putt for an eagle-3.

King got her eagle at No. 16, when she hit her second shot over a lake, then sank a three-foot putt.