Golf Roundup : Frost, Couples Lead Heritage After Busy Day of Par-Busting

Fred Couples and David Frost led an attack on par and shared the lead after Friday’s second round of the $700,000 Heritage golf tournament at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

“I can’t explain it,” Frost, a South African, said of some of the lowest scoring ever achieved on the Harbour Town Golf Links, one of the PGA Tour’s most respected courses.

“Maybe it’s because everyone is coming from Augusta (and extremely hard, fast greens), and all the putts look easy,” Frost said after he’d shot a seven-under-par 64 that included neither a bogey nor a 5.

He and Couples, who had a 65, were tied for the lead at nine-under-par 133 at the tournament’s halfway point.

First-round co-leader Greg Norman, Scott Hoch and Curt Byrum were at 134.

Norman had to work hard for a 69 that included six birdies and four bogeys.

Hoch had a second-round 66 and Byrum a 65. The best round on a near-ideal day for golf belonged to Jim Hallet, a 28-year-old tour rookie, who hadn’t broken 70 in 21 rounds of official competition this season. He tied Jack Nicklaus’ 1975 course record with a 63.

Masters champion Sandy Lyle was unable to take advantage of the scoring blitz, however, and had a 72 that left him at 142, nine shots back in his bid for a third straight championship.

Bobby Nichols, who completed his round in near-darkness, and former NFL quarterback John Brodie each shot three-under-par 69s to share the first-round lead in the Doug Sanders Celebrity tournament for seniors at Houston.

Brodie and Nichols held a one-stroke lead over Arnold Palmer, Chi Chi Rodriguez, Harold Henning, George Bayer and Joe Jimenez.

Ron Commans of Westlake Village, Calif., shot a four-under-par 68 for a 138 total and a three-shot lead after two rounds of the $367,OOO Cannes Open at Cannes, France.