TPC Golf : Weibring Coaxes a 2-Shot Lead

D.A. Weibring, playing calm and steady golf while some of the bigger names were getting into trouble, coaxed a four-under-par 68 from unforgiving Sawgrass Friday to take the second-round lead in the Tournament Players Championship.

Weibring, 31, who has just one tournament victory in nine seasons on the Professional Golf Assn. Tour, completed two rounds over the Players Club course in 136, two strokes ahead of Bernhard Langer of West Germany and Dan Halldorson of Canada on a warm, windy day.

Langer, who was fined $500 for slow play, shot a course-record 31 on his first nine holes, then had four bogeys in six of his final nine holes and wound up with a 70. Halldorson shot a 68.

Playing his 18th hole, the par-five No. 9, Langer hooked his tee shot into the woods. He said he had two openings through trees, one about three feet wide and another about one foot. After he played his second shot, he said, “an official came up to me and told me I’d been fined $500 for slow play. He told me I’d taken 91 seconds on that shot.

“If you can’t have a few seconds when you’re in the rough, in the woods, trying to play through a gap in the trees, over water, all kinds of trouble . . . They’ve got to give you a little bit of time. I don’t think it’s right.”

Calvin Peete had a 69 despite a double bogey and was tied at 139 with first-round leader Hale Irwin, who matched par with a 72.

Larry Rinker was next at 140. Jack Nicklaus followed at 141 after finishing birdie-birdie for a 70. He was tied with Jodie Mudd.

Curtis Strange, winner of two tournaments in his last three starts, and Ben Crenshaw were at 143. Strange shot a 73, Crenshaw a 71.

Tom Watson, however, took a 74 and was well back at 145. He was one stroke better than Lee Trevino and Fuzzy Zoeller, who just survived the cut at 146. Zoeller had a 74, Trevino a 73.

Among Friday’s nonqualifiers were Severiano Ballesteros of Spain, who struggled to a 74 for a 150; Johnny Miller, who hit two balls into the water and had a 7 on the par-three 17th for a 79 (152), and Lanny Wadkins, a two-time winner this year, who shot a 74 (154).