Golf Roundup : Birdie on Last Hole Gives King Lead in Women’s Open

Betsy King, the hottest golfer on the Ladies Professional Golf Assn. tour, shot a four-under-par 67 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead over Marie-Laure de Lorenzi-Taya in the first round of the $450,000 U.S. Women’s Open golf championship at Lake Orion, Mich.

King, who leads the LPGA money list with $423,794 and has won four tournaments this year, rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt from above the hole on the huge 18th green of the Old Course at Indianwood Golf and Country Club.

De Lorenzi-Taya, 28, a native of France who lives in Barcelona, Spain, also birdied the final hole, making an eight-footer from below the hole on the 22,000-square foot green.

Jane Geddes, who won the Open in 1986, was the only other golfer in the field of 156 to break par. Geddes, playing in the morning before a stiff afternoon wind came up, shot a 70.

De Lorenzi-Taya, who qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur three times, is playing in the United States as a professional for only the third time and is making her Open debut.

Defending champion Liselotte Neumann of Sweden, one of more than a dozen golfers at par, sprayed the ball both right and left but made up for it by putting only 25 times.

Two golfers bidding for their first Open victory--Nancy Lopez and Patty Sheehan--shot a 73 and a 74, respectively.

Hal Sutton, trying to regain the form that brought him seven victories in his first five years on the PGA Tour, shot a seven-under-par 64 that tied him with Tim Simpson for the first-round lead in the Anheuser-Busch tournament at Williamsburg, Va.

Sutton, who hasn’t won since 1986, and Simpson, who has led this tournament three times but has never won, were one shot off the course record at the 6,776-yard Kingsmill Golf Club.

Sutton, who played in the morning, and Simpson, who began his round in the early afternoon, shared a one-shot advantage over Tim Norris, Chris Perry and Mike Hulbert.

Another stroke back were Fuzzy Zoeller and Australian Ian Baker-Finch.

Naomichi (Joe) Ozaki birdied the last hole and tied Ian Woosnam for the second-round lead in the Scottish Open at Gleneagles, Scotland.

Ozaki, 33, winner of three tournaments in Japan earlier this year, did not make a bogey in a four-under-par 67 and completed 36 holes in 135. Woosnam, the first-round leader at 65, could do no better than a 70 that dropped him into a tie.

A stroke back was Sandy Lyle, the former British Open and Masters champion, who shot a 66.