Golf Roundup : Weibring Ties Record, Leads by Stroke

D.A. Weibring tied a course record with a seven-under-par 64 Thursday for a one-stroke lead over Fred Funk in the first round of the Kemper Open golf tournament at Potomac, Md.

Weibring nearly missed the tournament with an infected toe. He withdrew after nine holes ofthe pro-am Wednesday, but received emergency treatment and was much improved 24 hours later.

Donnie Hammond, who had a hole-in-one; Tom Byrum, with five birdies, and Bill Buttner were two strokes off the pace. Dave Barr was sixth after shooting a 67.

Weibring had four birdies on the back nine in matching Greg Norman, Tom Kite and Craig Stadler for the lowest score recorded on the TPC at Avenel course. Weibring lost a chance at holding the record alone when he missed a five-foot birdie putt on No. 18.

His bogey-free round overshadowed Hammond’s ace on the 147-yard, par-three 11th hole. It was the first hole-in-one during the three years the tournament has been held at Avenel and Hammond’s third on the PGA Tour.

“I was thinking of using a nine-iron, but my caddy suggested an eight-iron and he was right, as usual,” Hammond said. “I had the day pretty much made after the 11th hole.”

Hammond was seven under par after 15 holes but had bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17. He made five birdies over the 6,917-yard course on a day when temperatures reached 90 degrees.

Patty Sheehan made up for a shaky start with five birdies on her final nine holes to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Rochester International tournament at Pittsford, N.Y.

Sheehan’s four-under-par 68 left her one stroke ahead of Ayako Okamoto, who won last week’s tour event. At 70 were Betsy King, the second-leading money winner this year, Patti Rizzo and Sherri Turner.

Sheehan had a 30 on her final nine holes--she started on No. 10 and finished on the front nine--to tie the tournament record for lowest nine-hole score.

After bogeys on Nos. 12, 13 and 14, Sheehan had birdies on her next two holes to set up her big finish.