Golf Roundup : St. Andrews’ Road Hole Saves ’86 Cup Finalists

The notorious Road Hole came to the rescue of Australia and Japan Thursday as last year’s Dunhill Cup finalists were facing first-round exits in this year’s $1-million team golf tournament at St. Andrews, Scotland.

While the other seeded teams--the United States, Spain, Scotland, Canada, Ireland and England--all moved into the quarterfinals without losing a match, Australia and Japan had to scramble in order to advance.

Australia beat Sweden, 2-1, while Japan defeated Malaysia by the same score. But both faced defeat before vital errors by their opponents at No. 17.

The Road Hole was the turning point in Greg Norman’s match against Sweden’s Mats Lanner and Nobumitsu Yuhara’s match against Malaysia’s Zainal Abidin Yusof.

Yusof took a 10 after leading Yuhara by one stroke, and Lannier’s double bogey came after countryman Ove Sellberg had given Sweden a lead by beating Rodger Davis by six shots.

In the U.S. team’s 3-0 win over Italy, captain Curtis Strange shot a 71 to edge Constantino Rocca by one stroke, D.A. Weibring’s 69 routed Silvio Grappasonni by eight strokes and Mark O’Meara’s 70 gave him a five-shot victory over Giuseppe Cali.

South African David Frost made nine birdies en route to a seven-under-par 63 and a two-stroke lead in the first round of the $400,000 Southern Open at Columbus, Ga.

Mike Hulbert, Ken Brown of England and Vance Heafner each shot a 65 on the 6,791-yard Green Island Country Club course. Hale Irwin was another shot back.