Fairbanks Ranch Golf Tournament : Daniel, Bradley Shoot 70s and Tie for the Lead

Beth Daniel and Pat Bradley each shot a two-under-par 70 to share the first-round lead in the Kyocera Inamori women’s golf tournament Thursday.

The event on the year-old Fairbanks Ranch Country Club course was dealt an early setback when two-time defending champion Patty Sheehan withdrew because of illness.

Sheehan and fellow golfer Lauren Howe ate dinner together Wednesday night at a nearby restaurant. Both ordered the same menu item and later came down with food-poisoning. Howe also withdrew from the tournament, last played in the fall of 1983 but moved to the spring for the first time this year.

Amy Alcott, who won the tourney in 1980, had a 71, as did Pat Meyers, Lynn Stroney and Barbara Barrow.

Rookie Elaine Crosby aced the 213-yard par-3 12th hole, her third hole of the day, but finished at 73.

Daniel attributed the shortage of sub-par rounds to the newness of the course.

The Ladies Professional Golf Assn. is allowing golfers to improve fairway lies because of the young and fragile condition of the grass, and Daniel said: “Certain sections of the fairways are good, but others are total crabgrass. It brings too much luck into it.”

Daniel said the conditions place a premium on accuracy off the tee and long-iron play.

“If you miss the fairway, you have to be awfully lucky, or you can expect a bad lie,” she said.