Golf Roundup : Brooks Is Leader in Southwest

Mark Brooks shot a 4-under-par 68 Friday and held a 2-stroke lead at the halfway point of the $400,000 Gatlin Brothers Southwest golf tournament at Abilene, Tex.

Brooks, 27, bidding for his second PGA title of the year, was 3 under par on the last 6 holes to gain the lead. He had a 12-under-par 132 total.

Brooks’ closing 33 propelled him past Brad Bryant, who is second at 134, and earned him a 3-shot lead over tournament favorite Ben Crenshaw, Keith Clearwater and Brian Claar.

Bryant, emerging from a 10-week slump, shot a 68 early Friday and spent most of the day with a 1-shot edge.

Crenshaw shot a 66 on the 7,166-yard Fairway Oaks course. Claar shot a 67, Clearwater a 69.

Brooks, a former University of Texas All-American from Ft. Worth, had a bogey-free round and, with the lead undecided, had birdie putts of 15, 20 and 5 feet on the closing six holes.

Eighteen players were bunched within 5 shots of first place in the chase for the $72,000 first-place prize.

At Wentworth, England, Sandy Lyle of Scotland and Seve Ballesteros of Spain made big comebacks to give Europe a clean sweep in Friday’s second round of the $450,000 World Match Play Championship.

Lyle, who has lost the finals of this event four times, was 5 strokes down with 15 holes to play against Nick Price of Zimbabwe but won 8 of the next 12 holes to win, 3 and 2.

Ballesteros, who has never lost in any of his four finals, rallied from 4 holes down with 11 to play and beat Mark McCumber on the first extra hole.

Defending champion Ian Woosnam of Wales sank 10 birdies and beat PGA champion Jeff Sluman, 7 and 6.

Former British Open champion Nick Faldo had an easy time against Joey Sindelar, 5 and 4. Faldo won next faces his Ryder Cup partner, Woosnam, for the second year in succession for a place in the final.

Dick Rhyan, a veteran pro who has yet to score an official victory, compiled a 2-under-par 68 and took a share of the lead with Lou Graham at 137 Friday midway through the $1-million Vantage Championship at Clemmons, N.C. Graham shot a 69.

Rhyan, 53, did not join the PGA Seniors Tour until this season--three years after he became eligible--and did not finish higher than second in an off-and-on career on the regular tour that spanned 12 years and produced total earnings of $100,481.