Golf Roundup : Rookie Claar, Grady Share Lead at 66

Brian Claar and Wayne Grady, overcoming gusty winds that inflated the scores of some of golf’s bigger names, each shot a five-under-par 66 Thursday to share the first-round lead in the $450,000 Bank of Boston golf tournament at Sutton, Mass.

Claar, a rookie, and Grady, an Australian, held a two-stroke lead over four golfers--Bill Glasson, Bobby Wadkins, Larry Rinker and Wayne Levi.

Next, at 69, were Lou Graham, Davis Love III, Robert Lohr, Antonio Cerda, J.C. Snead, Donnie Hammond and Al Geiberger.

Name players who did not fare well included Lee Trevino and defending champion George Burns, who had 74s, and U.S. Open champion Ray Floyd at 76.

Claar, who won the Rhode Island Open 1983 on the PGA’s satellite tour, started on the 10th tee and put together a round of 33-33.

“I’m tickled pink with this score,” said Claar, who has earned nearly $80,000 so far this year. “I haven’t been playing well, but I think I still have a chance of catching Love for Rookie of the Year. I’m also trying to make enough money to finish in the top 70 or so and be able to play in all the invitational tournaments next year.”

Grady, who said he has been trying all year to forget two disqualifications for playing the wrong ball and one for signing an incorrect card, got into “a good frame of mind” with birdies on four of the first five holes, making the turn in 32. Then he added two more birdies and one bogey.

“This has been a hard year,” Grady said. “The three disqualifications knocked me down right at the start, and I kind of lost my confidence.”

Kris Monaghan took the lead with an eagle on her fifth hole and went on to shoot a five-under-par 67 in the first round of the Ladies Professional Golf Assn.’s $200,000 Safeco tournament at Kent, Wash.

It gave the second-year pro from Albuquerque, N.M., a one-stroke edge over Hollis Stacy, Juli Inkster and Amy Benz on the 6,222-yard Meridian Valley Country Club course.

Monaghan, who missed the cut in seven of her first eight tournaments this year, sank her 132-yard, 8-iron second shot to eagle the 363-yard No. 14.

Spain’s Severiano Ballesteros, seeking his first European Open title, shot an opening-round six-under-par 64 but was upstaged by Britain’s Nick Faldo, who had a course-record 62 at Sunningdale, England.

Ballesteros, the leading money winner on the circuit with five tournament wins, had his best start ever for this tournament, but Faldo collected an eagle and eight birdies.

Australian Terry Gale shot an eagle and then a string of three birdies en route to a six-under-par 66 and a share of the first-round lead with Japan’s Masashi Ozaki and Yoshihisa Iwashita in the $387,000 Suntory Open at Inzai, Japan.

Jack Nicklaus shot a 71.