Burns One Ahead After Second 66

George Burns, charged up by a 60-foot birdie putt, shot his second consecutive five-under-par 66 Friday to take a one-shot lead over Roger Maltbie at the halfway point of the $500,000 Westchester tournament at Harrison, N.Y.

Before Burns started his day’s work, Maltbie had posted a 63, only one shot off the tournament record.

Maltbie, winless in the last nine years, birdied six of his first nine holes to reach the turn in 29, matching the low nine-hole score on the PGA Tour this year.

Oddly, both Burns and Maltbie failed earlier this week in their bids to qualify for next week’s U.S. Open, causing Burns to comment, “It’s a crazy game.”

Burns, who in two days has played the back nine of the Westchester Country Club course in 30 and 31, had a 36-hole total of 132.

Clarence Rose, following a 66, was third at 136, and Mike Donald was at 137 after his 67.

Woody Blackburn, who started the day a shot off the lead, had a 71 to stand in a tie at 138 with J.C. Snead (68), Willie Wood (66), Wayne Grady (70) and John DeForest (70).

Tour rookie Ernie Gonzalez, who shared the opening-round lead with Burns, fell back to 144 with a 78.

Alice Miller, who said she didn’t have a very good day hitting the ball, managed a four-under-par 68 for a total of 136 and a two-stroke lead in the $400,000 LPGA McDonald’s championship at Malvern, Pa.

“I was just not hitting my drives or irons solid,” said Miller, the leading money-winner on the women’s golf tour with $217,125. “But I scrambled well and putted well.”

Beth Daniel, who shot a 70, was second at 138.

First-round leader Ayoko Okamoto, who had a 66 Thursday, soared to a 75 with five bogeys and two birdies, and is in a tie at 141.

Ken Towns made a hole-in-one and tied a course record with a five-under-par 67 en route to a one-shot lead over Peter Thomson in the first round of the $200,000 Senior PGA Champions tournament at Sparks, Nev.

Towns, 56, is leading a Seniors event for the first time in his career. On the third hole, the club pro from Graeagle, Calif., flew a 7-iron within six feet of the flag and watched as the ball hopped into the cup for his fourth career hole-in-one.

Thomson birdied five of seven holes during a stretch that began on the seventh hole.

Tied for third at 72 in the 54-hole event were Ken Still and Jim Ferree.

Britons Mike McLean and Brian Marchbank shot four-under-par 68s to share the first-round lead in the $260,000 British Masters on the 6,883-yard Woburn Golf and Country Club Course at Woburn, England.

Argentina’s Vicente Fernandez, Sweden’s Anders Forsbrand and Britain’s Philip Parkin were one shot back.

Spain’s Severiano Ballesteros, the favorite, lost his touch on the green. He missed from one foot on the final hole and shot a 71 that included three birdies. West Germany’s Bernhard Langer, the U.S. Masters champion, made his 1985 European debut with a 72. He had a seven at the long 13th, but also had five birdies including three in the last five holes.

Irishman Garth McGimpsey and Briton Graham Homewood posted a pair of victories and gained the 36-hole final in the British Amateur golf championship at Royal Dornoch, Scotland.

McGimpsey, 29, defeated Duffy Waldorf of Tarzana and UCLA, 4 and 3, in the quarterfinals, and British teen-ager Patrick Hall, 3 and 2, in the semifinals.

Homewood beat fellow Briton Peter Baker, 17, on the last hole, then ousted Scotland’s David James.