Golf Roundup : Southpaw Cochran Is Leader at 66

Russ Cochran, needing a victory to qualify for next week’s PGA Championship, shot a six-under-par 66 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead in the opening round of the $600,000 Federal Express St. Jude golf tournament at Cordova, Tenn.

Cochran, a left-hander from Paducah, Ky., started with a bogey on his first hole but recovered, making three birdies on his final six holes at Colonial Country Club.

Despite the 96-degree heat and 50% humidity, this year’s PGA Tour trend of low scores continued on the 7,282-yard course.

Cochran said the heat and the well-kept greens helped him.

“I stepped up and seemed to make everything,” Cochran said of his eight-under-par round in Wednesday’s pro-am. “It was the same today. I didn’t practice-putt today either.”

Antonio Cerda, who is one stroke off the lead with Charlie Bolling of Rosemont, Pa., and Andy Dillard of Tyler, Tex., did just the opposite.

“I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well, but I haven’t been putting well,” said Cerda, of Mexico City. “I’ve been practicing only on putting, and everything just went in today.”

The leader board was dominated by relative unknowns, with the top four seeking their first tour victories.

Cochran’s best finish was a second place in last year’s Tallahassee Open. Cerda, who has only two top-10 finishes in his 12 years on the tour, has missed the cut in his last four appearances. Bolling’s best finish of the year was a tie for 10th in the Bob Hope Classic, and Dillard’s 1987 best was a tie for 15th in the Doral Open.

Masters champion Larry Mize was with nine other players two strokes off the lead. Tied with Mize at 68 were Payne Stewart, Mike Sullivan, Gary Koch, Jay Don Blake, Ed Fiori, John Mahaffey, Ronnie Black, Trevor Dodds and Jeff Sluman.

Stewart was tied with Cochran at six under par with six holes left but double-bogeyed the par-4 13th.

Tournament officials said the heat factor was about 108 degrees when combined with the high humidity.

Chris Johnson reeled off a string of birdies in the middle of her round to shoot a six-under-par 66 and take a two-stroke lead on the first day of the Columbia Savings LPGA Pro-Am tournament at Meridian Golf Club in Englewood, Colo.

The 5-foot 10-inch Johnson, who overcame the early lead of 68 taken by Jill Briles, said she was able to concentrate and be more focused after working out a problem with her swing on the practice tee.

“I had six birdies and no bogeys,” she said. “I’ve been in a slump for six or seven months, and it feels good to be playing well.”

Johnson currently stands 12th on the circuit with $109,773 in earnings. Briles has won $31,762 for 60th place.

Briles, a former collegiate star and academic All-American at the University of Miami, finished her round with an eagle on the 18th.

The defending champion, Amy Alcott, who was three over par on her front nine, came back to finish with a 73 and blamed her lack of concentration on cancer surgery that her mother, Lea, was to undergo Thursday in California.

Alcott arrived in Denver Tuesday night after the U.S. Open in New Jersey, left that same night for California to be with her mother, then arrived back in Denver about 1 a.m. Thursday.

She had about an hour of putting and driving practice before teeing off.

“I wasn’t sure I was going to play,” she said. “But I feel confident about the surgery and I’m sure she’s going to be fine.”

Trailing Johnson and Briles with 69s were Barb Bunkowsky, Kathryn Young, Susan Tonkin, Sherri Stenhauer and Sara Ann Timms.

The field is missing several top money winners on the circuit, including Jane Geddes, Betsy King, Ayako Okamoto, Colleen Walker and Pat Bradley.