Golf Roundup : Cook Shoots a 63 for Lead at Pensacola

John Cook, heeding his wife’s advice to just relax and enjoy the week, shot an eight-under-par 63 Thursday for a two-stroke lead in the first round of the $300,000 Pensacola Open golf tournament at Pensacola, Fla.

Under sunny skies with temperatures in the mid 80s, Ed Fiori, Greg Powers, Ronnie Black, Gil Morgan and Tim Simpson each shot a 65 to share second place.

David Thore, Andy Bean, Don Pooley and defending Pensacola champion Bill Kratzert were another stroke back.

Cook, whose best finish in 28 tournaments this year came when he tied for 10th at the Hartford Open, had four birdies on the front nine, including a pair of 15-footers, to make the turn in 31. A 50-foot birdie at No. 12 and birdies at Nos. 13 and 16 dropped Cook to seven under par, and he capped his round with a 30-foot birdie at the par-four, 454-yard 18th.

“This week, my wife Jan told me just relax and have some fun,” said the two-time PGA Tour event winner. “Well, that’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”

The United States easily won its match, British Open champion Sandy Lyle was beaten by a little-known Brazilian and Spanish standout Severiano Ballesteros crushed a Nigerian by 15 strokes as golf’s richest event, the $1.2-million Dunhill Cup, got under way at St. Andrews, Scotland.

Despite Lyle’s surprise defeat by Rafael Navarro, the top four seeded teams in the inaugural tourney won their first-round matches.

The top-seeded Americans beat France, 3-0; No. 2 Australia edged Hong Kong, 2-1; Ballesteros’ Spanish team, seeded third, crushed Nigeria, 3-0, and fourth-seeded Scotland overcame Lyle’s loss to beat Brazil, 2-1.

In other first-round results, New Zealand edged Canada, 2-1, to earn a quarterfinal berth against the United States; Japan routed The Philippines, 3-0, and will meet Scotland; England downed Ireland, 2-1, and will face Australia, and Wales beat Taiwan by the same score to clinch a quarterfinal spot with Spain.

The event is being scored on a medal-match play basis. The three players on each team face their opponents on a head-to-head basis with the scores of each match being decided on stroke play.

Americans Ray Floyd and Curtis Strange both found themselves two strokes down in their matches against Frenchmen Michel Tapia and Gery Watine, respectively.

However, Floyd and Strange both birdied the seventh and eighth holes to take the lead and went on to post identical scores of 71 and beat their opponents by two strokes.

Meanwhile, countryman Mark O’Meara shot a six-under-par 66 to rout Bernard Pascassio by six strokes.