Golf Roundup : Randolph, Waldorf Each Win Twice in Amateur

Walker Cup members Sam Randolph, Duffy Waldorf, Scott Verplank, Jay Sigel, Bob Lewis and Mike Podolak all advanced after two rounds of match play Thursday in the 1985 U.S. Amateur championship at Montclair, N.J..

Verplank opened in the morning with a playoff victory on the second hole against another Walker Cup player, Randy Sonnier. Other Cup players who were defeated included Clark Burrough and Jerry Haas, both out in the first round.

As the field dropped from 64 to 16, surviving players generally had an easier time in the afternoon.

After Verplank went to the two-hole playoff against Sonnier, from Woodlands, Tex., he defeated James Benepe of Evanston, Ill., 3 and 1.

Also surviving a first-round scare at the Montclair Golf Club was Randolph, the medalist from Santa Barbara. He was down by one after 15 holes to Mike Schuchart of Lincoln, Neb., but rolled in birdie putts of eight and 15 feet on Nos. 16 and 17 and halved the final hole to win, 1 up. In the afternoon, Randolph posted a 2-and-1 victory over Mark Trauner of Armonk, N.Y.

Waldorf, of Tarzana, the runner-up to Randolph in qualifying, beat Roger Brown of Arkansas City, Kan., 5 and 4, but was tested in the afternoon while defeating Lamar Haynes of Dallas on the 19th hole.

Walker Cup captain Sigel, of Berwyn, Pa., defeated Kirk Triplett of Reno, 2 and 1, and followed that with a 1-up victory over Karl Zoller of Chesterland, Ohio.

Lewis, of Warren, Ohio, beat Pat Herzog of Alexandria, Minn., in the morning, 6 and 4, and downed Allen Doyle of La Grange, Ga., 5 and 4, in the second round.

Podolak, of Fargo, N.D., eased past Jim Holtgrieve of St. Louis, 5 and 3, and followed that with a 4-and-3 victory over Jeffery Wilson of Vallejo, Calif.

The top half of the draw includes Walker Cup players Verplank, Sigel (a two-time winner of this tournament), Lewis and Verplank.

“It looks like I’ll have to run through the whole Walker Cup team to get to the final,” Verplank said.

Another double round is scheduled today, with the semifinals Saturday and the 36-hole final Sunday.

Joey Sindelar, who won his only PGA Tour title in April, shot a five-under-par 66 to tie veteran Bruce Lietzke and second-year player Brett Upper for the first-round lead in the $300,000 B.C. Open at Endicott, N.Y.

The three were one stroke ahead of Mike Reid, Denis Watson, Andy Magee and Don Pooley, the 1980 B.C. Open winner.

Nine pros, including Mark Wiebe, were two strokes back at 68, and 15 more stayed within hailing distance of the leaders at 69.

Forty-two players in the field of 141 broke par, with another 15 matching par 71 at the 6,966-yard En Joie Golf Club, a tight but relatively short public course.

Among players who opened the chase for the $54,000 first-prize with disappointing rounds were reigning U.S. Open champion Andy North and defending B.C. Open champion Wayne Levi.

North, the top money-winner in the field with $207,268, good for 16th place overall, had a 74, and Levi, a favorite in this Binghamton suburb because he lives in New Hartford, N.Y., limped in at 75 after a disastrous five-over-par 42 on his last nine holes.

Spain’s Manuel Calero shot a six-under-par 64 to take the first-round lead in the $280,000 European Open golf championship over the 6,573-yard Sunningdale course at Sunningdale, England.

West German Bernhard Langer, the 1985 Masters Champion, was among a group of nine players at 66. Langer had four birdies and an eagle.