Golf Roundup : Strange, Dillard Share Lead; Five Are One Shot Back

Curtis Strange and Andy Dillard both birdied the final hole Saturday to share a one-stroke lead in the third round of the $724,043 Federal Express St. Jude golf tournament at Cordova, Tenn.

Strange and Dillard were both at 10-under-par 206, one stroke ahead of Hubert Green, Fuzzy Zoeller, Russ Cochran, Mike Donald and Jay Don Blake.

Second-round leader Trevor Dodds soared to a 74 and was among five players at 209.

Strange turned in a no-bogey round of 68, while Dillard, who bogeyed two of the first four holes, rallied to birdie two of the last three holes and finished with a 70 in the 98-degree heat.

Donald birdied his final three holes for a 68, while Cochran, the first-round leader at 66, birdied the 17th and 18th holes for a 68.

Green came from far off the pace, reeling off four straight birdies on his way to a round of 65. Green’s last PGA Tour victory came in the 1985 PGA Championship.

Zoeller survived a bogey 6 at the 16th hole, which came after he hit a 1-iron second shot into the water. A birdie on No. 18 gave him a 70.

Blake birdied his first hole, parred the next 14 and birdied the 16th and 18th to finish with a 69.

Dodds, who started the day nine under par, clipped three more shots off par on the first 10 holes before his game fell apart.

A bogey at the par-4 11th hole, a double-bogey at the par-3 12th hole and bogeys at Nos. 13 and 14 dropped him to six under par. But he birdied the 18th to pull into a tie with Tom Kite, Chip Beck, Bob Tway and Scot Hoch.

Chris Johnson survived a bogey on the final hole for a two-under-par 70 and retained the lead in the third round of the $250,000 Columbia Savings LPGA National Pro-Am at Englewood, Colo.

Johnson’s 54-hole score of 207 left her one shot ahead of Sally Quinlan, who three-putted No. 17 for a bogey but shook that off to make a par on the 18th that gave her a 70.

Therese Hession, who had a 70, and Jill Briles, who shot a 72 on the 6,540-yard Lone Tree Country Club course, were next at 211.

Sherri Turner set a course record with a 65, missing Alexandra Reinhardt’s tournament record by one stroke. Reinhardt set the record in 1984 at the Green Gables Country Club. Turner’s round left her tied with Shirley Furlong (69) and Cindy Raric (71) at 212.

Roland Stafford, who did not play on the PGA Seniors Tour last year, shot a five-under-par 65 to tie Dale Douglass for the lead in the second round of the $250,000 Commemorative at the Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Scarborough-on-Hudson, N.Y.

Douglass, the 1986 U.S. Senior Open champion and third-leading money-winner on the Seniors Tour last year, had his second-straight 67 on the 6,545-yard course to match Stafford’s 36-hole score of 134.

Gene Littler and Miller Barber each had 68s and were at 135.

Mike Souchak and Jim Ferree were next at 136. Both shot 66s. First-round leader Larry Mowry had a 73 and was at 139.

American Muffin Spencer-Devlin shot a 75 and took a one-stroke lead at 222 after three rounds of the $165,000 British Women’s Open at St. Mellion, England.

Sally Little of the United States and Britain’s Alison Nicholas, winless in four years as a pro, were at 223. Little shot a 74, and Nicholas had a 73.

Defending champion Laura Davies of Britain dropped into a fourth-place tie at 224 with countrywoman Katrina Douglas (73).

Davies survived a nightmare putting round, slumping to a 79, but kept within striking distance of a remarkable golfing double.

Davies, who won the U.S. Women’s Open, did not get a birdie until the last hole, where she missed a five-foot eagle putt. She refused to make any excuses for her performance.

“I was due a bad one because everything has been going so well for me,” she said. “My rhythm went a bit and my putting was absolutely hopeless. I had 34 putts and that’s far too many.”