Golf Roundup : Burns, Winless Since 1980, Leads at Boston

Veteran George Burns, winless on the PGA Tour since 1980, shot a five-under-par 66 for a 36-hole total of 133 and a two-stroke lead Friday in the $400,000 Bank of Boston tournament at Sutton, Mass.

Burns sank birdie putts on three of the last four holes to break out of a jam of golfers and take the halfway lead as rain and fog enveloped the Pleasant Valley Country Club.

“It got easier as it got darker,” the 36-year-old Burns quipped.

Burns’ five birdies in a bogey-free round enabled him to grab the lead from 1978 winner John Mahaffey, Buddy Gardner and Greg Norman, who were tied at 135.

Mahaffey, seeking to become the first two-time winner here since the PGA’s first stop 20 years ago, had to settle for a 70 after sharing the first-round lead with Australian Steve Elkington and Brad Fabel at 65.

Fabel slipped to a 72 and into a five-way tie at 137. Elkington, playing with a foreign exemption while marking time before trying for his PGA card this fall, took a 73 for a 138 total.

Patty Sheehan shot a four-under-par 68 to take a one-stroke lead in the opening round of a $175,000 Ladies Professional Golf Assn. tournament at Portland, Ore.

Cathy Morse and Nancy Lopez were tied for second in the 54-hole tournament at the Riverside Golf and Country Club, one shot ahead of Sally Quinlan and Stephanie Farwig.

Sheehan’s round included an eagle, three birdies and a lone bogey.

“I made my only mistake on 17,” she said.

Leading by two strokes at the 17th hole, Sheehan elected to use a 9-iron at the 140-yard par-three.

“I hit it a little fat and knocked it into the front bunker,” she said.

Sheehan blasted within six feet but failed to make the saving putt.

Lopez made six birdies, one bogey and a double-bogey on the par-four 12th hole.

Five players were tied at 71--Beth Daniel, Jane Blalock (who scored her seventh hole-in-one on the 17th with an 8-iron), Amy Benz, Jerilyn Britz and Patty Hayes.