Golf Roundup : It’s a Day of Firsts for Nancy Scranton

Nancy Scranton was first off the tee and first into the clubhouse Friday en route to an eight-under-par 64 and the second-round lead at the LPGA du Maurier golf tournament in the Toronto suburb of Woodbridge.

Scranton, who is bidding for her first LPGA Tour victory, waited for most of the afternoon to make sure her score stood.

Scranton, 25, set one tournament record and tied two others as she tamed the 6,107-yard Board of Trade layout. Her 36-hole total of 10-under-par 134 was a low halfway score for the only Canadian stop on the women’s pro circuit and the last of the tour’s four Grand Slam events.

First-round leader Chris Johnson was one shot behind the leader after carding a 68. Another four shots back at 139 and tied for third are 1984 tournament winner Juli Inkster, who birdied her first four holes before settling for a 68, and Betsy King, who had a 67.

Scranton’s round of 64 tied JoAnne Carner’s 18-hole score set at St. George’s at Toronto in 1978 and tied last year at Beaconsfield, Quebec, by Jane Geddes.

For Scranton, who was disqualified for an improperly signed card in one tournament this year and missed the cut in 10 others, it was the continuation of the type of game she has been playing since the Lady Keystone tournament at Hershey, Pa., in June.

Scranton carded a 66 there and tied for seventh to pick up $6,250, her biggest check of a two-year career. She earned only $13,500 in 1985 and was struggling through much of 1986 until Hershey. She has collected more than $12,000 of her $16,374 in money-winnings this year in the last six weeks.

Rookie Davis Love III shook off some early morning rain and minor putting difficulties and shot a five-under-par 67 to take a three-stroke lead in the $500,000 Buick Open at Grand Blanc, Mich.

“I let the rain get to me for a while, but then I got used to it,” said Love, 22, a three-time All-American from the University of North Carolina. His 36-hole total of 132 is 12 under par.”

Chasing Love were Ed Fiori and Bobby Wadkins, both at 135. Fiori shot a 69 in the second round, while Wadkins shot a 66.

Spain’s Severiano Ballesteros grabbed the lead in the $208,600 Dutch Open, overcoming torrential rain and gale-force winds to shoot a second-round 63 at Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

With a 132 total, Ballesteros was two strokes ahead of American newcomer Mike Allen. Briton Philip Parkin was in third at 135.

Friday’s round was played over 16 holes, with 64 strokes used as par for the course after self-professed anti-apartheid activists damaged the putting greens of the par-3 third and the par-5 11th holes. The activists dug foot-deep holes in the greens to protest the presence of several players they claimed to be South African.