Golf Roundup : Roberts Shoots 66, Leads by 1

Loren Roberts, playing in the first group to tee off Friday, fired a six-under-par 66 to take a one-shot lead over Tom Sieckmann after two rounds of the $600,000 Hawaiian Open at Honolulu.

Roberts has a 36-hole total of 10-under-par 134 on the 6,975-yard Waialae Country Club course. Sieckmann carded a 67 and has a two-round total of 135. John Inman was alone at 136 after a second straight 68.

Richard Zokol, who led after the first round along with Jodie Mudd, had a 71 for a total of seven-under 137. The Canadian is tied with Larry Nelson, J.C. Snead, Jim Carter and Billy Andrade.

Mudd had an even-par 72 to lead 10 players, including former Hawaiian Open winners Ben Crenshaw and Hale Irwin and local favorite David Ishii at six-under-par 138.

Howard Twitty, who along with John Mahaffey matched Roberts’s 66, was tied at 5-under 139 with Tom Watson and 10 other players. Mahaffey and Bernhard Langer of West Germany headed an eight-player group at 140.

Roberts, 32, credited his score to a change he made during the off-season.

“I completely revamped my putting stroke,” he said. “It’s basically a putting contest out here, to do well you have to putt well.”

Bob Charles, protecting the lead he built with an opening-round 64, settled for a one-over-par 73 that left him three shots ahead of Orville Moody and Al Geiberger midway through the 49th PGA Seniors Championship at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Strong winds that sent morning temperatures plunging into the 60s forced the leader to change his strategy on the 6,530-yard Champion course at PGA National. Instead of the aggressive approach he took in making eight birdies on Thursday, Charles played defensive golf and finished with no birdies and one bogey.

His two-day total of 137 is seven under par for 36 holes. Moody and Geiberger both shot 71 to stand at 140.

Arnold Palmer, a two-time PGA Seniors Championship winner, moved into contention with a 69. He was alone at 141, one shot ahead of defending champion Chi Chi Rodriguez, 1986 winner Gary Player and Tommy Aaron.

Swirling, gusting winds plagued Swedish rookie Liselotte Neumann in the second round of the $225,000 Sarasota tournament, while LPGA veterans Beth Daniel and Jody Rosenthal rallied to pull into a three-way tie for the lead at Sarasota, Fla.

Neumann, who opened with a 64, ballooned to a five-over-par 77, including six bogeys, on the 6,170-yard Bent Tree Country Club course. Her 141 total for 36 holes left her tied with Daniel, 68-73, and Rosenthal, 71-70.