San Diego Golf : Burns’ 63 Is the Best on Par-Busting Day

George Burns, giving a share of the credit for his round to his playing partner, shot a course-record 63, nine under par, Thursday for the first-round lead in the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open.

More than 70% of the field of 156 golfers beat par as conditions proved nearly ideal over both the North and South courses at Torrey Pines.

Burns was paired with veteran Ray Floyd, whom he believes is among the great competitors in sports.

“It really helped motivate me because Ray is just so dogged,” Burns said. “He’s always there, always fighting it.

“It’s hard for me to maintain that kind of intensity level, because I play more often than guys like Ray and Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, but I’d like to bring it up more often.”

Burns, making birdies in droves, said he had a chance to shoot better than 63 on the North course, but he wasn’t complaining about one of his better rounds in a long time. The previous North course record, incidentally, was 64 and held by seven players--Jay Haas (1978), Chi Chi Rodgriguez (1982), Floyd (1984), Don Pooley (1985), Al Geiberger (1985), Howard Twitty (1985) and Peter Oosterhuis (1985).

Floyd had a 65 that left him in a four-way tie for third, two shots behind Burns and one behind local favorite Lon Hinkle and J.C. Snead. On a rather blustery, cool day during which there were patches of sunshine, there were 118 sub-par rounds, eight at par and 30 over par. The largest group was a cluster of 33 golfers at 71, one under.

After today’s round when the field of 156 swaps courses, the field will be cut to the low 70 and ties for the final two rounds on the more difficult South course.

Burns, who had nine birdies in his record-setting round on the North course, said most of the par-5 holes played dramatically downwind, helping bring down scores.

Among the top 10 scorers, nine played the North course. Hinkle and Snead had 64s, with Dave Eichelberger, Jay Don Blake, Bobby Cole and Floyd were at 65.

Defending champ Bob Tway had a 71, and several other big-names were well behind Burns. Tom Watson and Lanny Wadkins were at 68, Seve Ballesteros was at 69 and Andy Bean at 70.

Floyd declined to accept any credit for motivating the tournament leader.

“If you believe that, I have some swampland in Florida I’d like to sell you,” he said. “I’m flattered, but I really don’t think too much about how I am. That’s for others to decide.

“I do know if I shoot 80, that’s the best I could do on that day. I don’t quit or give up. It’s a golden rule I live by when I play golf.”

Floyd said he had been influenced by Arnold Palmer, but claimed the greatest competitor he had ever seen in golf was Dave Stockton.

“I’m sure that will make some eyes blink, but if Dave was near winning, he always did,” Floyd said. “He wasn’t a great player, but whenever he was close, he always found a way to capitalize, and I greatly admire that.”

Golf, which is often criticized for having too many colorless clones, may be lacking in great competitors, Floyd seemed to suggest.

“There are a lot of guys with talent who, when they get down to the last holes, have a little quit in them,” he said. In that situation, I want to play the guy who is known for not getting it done. . . . A lot of players don’t give that (extra competitive effort).”

He declined, however, to name any players with a tendency to quit.

Hinkle, a San Diego native, was fighting a tendency to try to the hit the ball too hard.

He said he has put away his driver in favor of a 2-wood for tee shots, sacrificing distance for accuracy.

“It’s hard to gear down,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed killing it. Maybe I’ll find a new career as a popcorn hitter. If you can’t drive it in the fairway, you can’t play on tour. It’s automatic.”

Hinkle, who eagled the fifth hole from about 88 yards, said he had been practicing at nearby Presidio Hills, where the longest hole is about 100 yards.

Hinkle had started playing golf at Presidio in the early 1960s, and several of his longtime friends followed him Thursday.

“It was kind of fun to have all the guys out here,” he said.

Floyd seemed to greatly enjoy his round of 65 and refused to attribute it to a course made easier by the weather conditions.

“It’s fun to play well and be rewarded,” he said. “We play a lot of courses these days where good play doesn’t show up in the scores.”

He criticized the tendency of golf course architects to make their layouts unduly hard, with a shortage of birdie possibilities.

He also said many courses are toughened in advance of tour events to make scores higher and the courses seem more demanding.

“The World Series doesn’t throw rocks in the infield to trick it up,” he said. “Football doesn’t narrow the field and make it longer before the Super Bowl.

“If you take the home run out of baseball and the bomb out of football, you lose a lot of excitement. We have to watch that in golf. There has to be some discretion.”