Golf Roundup : Storms and Penalties Plague TPC

Greg Norman’s final-hole birdie gave him the lead Thursday in the storm-disrupted, penalty-littered and incomplete first round of the $1-million Tournament Players Championship at Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Norman, the Australian who dominated world golf last year, came back from a 1-hour 20-minute storm delay and dropped the four-foot putt that lifted him into the lead at five-under-par 67.

Half the field of 144 was stranded on the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass by a series of storms. They marked their positions on the rain-sodden course and were scheduled to return at 7:30 a.m. today to complete first-round play.

While Norman was taking the lead, two top players--U.S. Open champion Raymond Floyd and Seve Ballesteros of Spain--were taking a series of unusual penalties.

Each was penalized two strokes for hitting practice balls from alongside the sixth tee during the first storm delay in early afternoon.

The rules specify that practice shots can be played only from a designated area, such as the practice range.

“After the rain, we went back out to No. 6, and I asked Raymond if it was OK for us to hit some practice balls,” Ballesteros said.

“He said, ‘Sure, sure.’

“So we hit 2-3 balls into the woods, out of play.

“Then an official comes up and says, ‘Sorry, you can’t do that. It’s two shots.’

“It was just one of those things.”

For Floyd, however, it was two of those things.

He also had to take a two-stroke penalty on the 11th hole for hitting a shot into his golf bag.

“Very unlucky. About as difficult as making a hole-in-one,” Ballesteros said.

Floyd’s caddy had placed the bag on its side along the fairway while Floyd was on the tee. The caddy saw Floyd’s drive going in that direction and began a race to move the bag. He lost. The ball rolled into the bag.

“Where’s the ball?” Floyd asked when he reached the area.

“In there,” said the caddy, pointing to the golf bag.

Floyd, who finished with a 74, incurred a fifth penalty shot for the dismal day with a drive into the water.

When he was approached for comment later, Floyd forestalled any questions with a sharp, “Not now.”

Ballesteros, five under par before the penalty, finished with a 70.

Hale Irwin, a two-time U.S. Open winner, led a large group of early finishers at 68. Tied with him were Dave Stockton, Isao Aoki of Japan, Hal Sutton, Mark O’Meara, Paul Azinger, Dan Pohl, Mark Brooks, Dave Rummells and Blaine McCallister.

Martha Foyer, playing in only her seventh tournament as a professional, birdied the final hole for a four-under-par 69 to tie Penny Pulz for the lead in the opening round of the $300,000 LPGA Turquoise tournament at Phoenix.

Foyer, 22, who joined the tour a few weeks before her December graduation from Southern Methodist University, sank a 16-foot putt on the par-4 18th hole of the Moon Valley Country Club course.

Patti Rizzo, twice a winner since joining the tour five years ago, headed a group at 70. Others at that figure included Spain’s Marta Figueras-Dotti, Deb Richard, Lisa Young and Colleen Walker.