Golf Roundup : Hot Putter Gives Strange Two-Shot Lead

Curtis Strange one-putted 12 times in a misty drizzle Friday and shot a four-under-par 66 to move into a two-stroke lead in the second round of the $800,000 World Series of Golf at Akron, Ohio.

“Miserable conditions. It was nasty out there,” Strange said after completing two trips around the long, tough Firestone Country Club course in 136, four under par.

“Any time I shoot 66 at Firestone, I’ve got to be putting good,” said Strange, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour this season.

Strange took the lead with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole and preserved it with a 15-footer to save par after driving into the trees on the 18th.

Bobby Wadkins, three shots ahead of the field after a 64 in the first round, did not make a birdie as he shot a 74 that dropped him into a three-way tie for second at 138.

“Under the conditions out there today, I would have considered 70 a very good round today,” Wadkins said.

“I just didn’t play nearly as well as I did yesterday and I made no putts.”

Wadkins shared second place with Paul Azinger, who had his second 69, and Fred Wadsworth, who chipped in twice on the way to a 67.

Greg Norman of Australia sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th and shot a 69 that tied him at 139 with Jay Haas and defending champion Dan Pohl. Haas shot a 66, Pohl a 67.

Strange holed a pair of birdie putts from about 15 feet on the front nine, made another from 5 feet and capped a 31 on that side with a 35-foot putt on the ninth.

He also used only 11 putts on the back nine. He one-putted for par four times, including the long one on the 18th, and made another for a bogey.

Ayako Okamoto of Japan, playing despite a nagging cold, shot a four-under-par 68 to take a three-stroke lead in the second round of the $250,000 World Championship of Women’s Golf at Buford, Ga. Okamoto had four back-nine birdies while pulling away from the rest of the select 12-player field. But she closed with a bogey after hitting her drive into a sand trap and going from there into the rough surrounding the 18th green.

She was at six-under-par 138 for 36 holes in her bid for the $81,500 first prize.

Betsy King, this year’s leading money-winner with $381,775, took over second place at 141 with a second-round 70.

Only three of the other 10 players were under par for 36 holes. Colleen Walker was at 142 after a 69, and two-time U.S. Amateur champion Kay Cockerill, the surprise first-round leader, and Laurie Rinker were at 143 following rounds of 74 and 72, respectively .

Rounding out the field were defending champion Pat Bradley (70), U.S. Open champion Laura Davies (72) and Jane Geddes (71) at 144; Cindy Rarick (74) at 145; Patty Sheehan (70) and Chris Johnson (71) at 147, and Jody Rosenthal (76) at 155.

Rocco Mediate made a pair of eagles on his way to a seven-under-par 63 and a one-stroke lead over Joey Sindelar in the second round of the $450,000 Provident tournament at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Mediate, who played his second straight bogey-free round on the 6,641-yard Valleybrook Golf and Country Club course, had a 36-hole total of 11-under-par 129.

Sindelar, who matched the course record with a first-round 62, was 11 under par after 15 holes but slid into second place as he sandwiched two bogeys around a birdie on his final three holes for a 68 and a 130 total.

Morris Hatalsky, who had a 67, was third at 131. John Inman, Greg Powers and Andrew Magee were at 132, and five players were tied at 133.

Former Masters champion Charles Coody picked up four strokes on the final six holes to share the first-round lead with Australian Bruce Crampton in the $300,000 PGA Senior Showdown at Jeremy Ranch, Utah.

Coody birdied the 12th hole to go to even par, then eagled the par-5, 530-yard 13th hole to move into contention. Coody’s birdie on No. 16, after Crampton bogeyed No. 15, left them tied with three-under-par 69s.

Three players--Al Chandler, Bill Collins and Don Massengale--were one stroke back, playing in winds that gusted to 25 m.p.h.

Britain’s Denis Durnian made seven birdies on the way to a six-under-par 65 and took a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the $420,000 German Open at Frankfurt.

Durnian had a 36-hole total of 13-under-par 129. Spain’s Antonio Garido, who shot a 66, was second at 130.

Favorites Severiano Ballesteros of Spain and Bernhard Langer of West Germany, a four-time winner of this event, were at 135.