Golf Roundup : Mockett Loses Big Lead, Match in U.S. Amateur

Teen-ager Brandie Burton rallied from four holes down on the front nine to win 1-up over Cathy Mockett, 21, of Newport Beach in a semifinal match of the U.S. Women’s Amateur golf championship Friday.

Burton, 17, of Rialto, will meet Vicki Goetze, 16, of Hull, Ga., in today’s final.

Goetze rolled in four birdies on her way to a 5-and-3 victory over former U.S. Amateur champion Carol Semple Thompson, of Sewickley, Pa, who did not win a hole.

The 36-hole final is a rematch of last week’s U.S. Girls’ Junior semifinal in which Burton beat Goetze, 1-up, by making par on the last three holes.

Burton went on to win the championship, setting up a chance to become the first player to win both events in the same year.

JoAnne Gunderson Carner came the closest to winning both titles. In 1956 she won the Girls’ Junior and finished second in the Women’s Amateur.

Burton started the day by losing four of the first seven holes to Mockett before knocking a three-iron within three feet and sinking the putt for an eagle 3 on the eighth hole.

Burton pulled even with a birdie on the 15th and won with a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th.

Ed Fiori shot a four-under-par 67 to take a two-stroke lead in the second round of the Federal Express St. Jude golf tournament at Memphis, Tenn.

Fiori, who shot an opening-round 65, was at 10-under-par 132, two strokes in front of Jim Gallagher, Bob Gilder and Billy Ray Brown.

Doug Tewell, who shot a course-record 63 Thursday, soared to a 75 and was six shots behind Fiori.

Beth Daniel made long birdie putts on the final two holes for a 66 and a one-stroke lead over Rosie Jones in the first round of the LPGA Greater Washington Open at Bethesda, Md.

Daniel, winless on the LPGA tour since 1985, had five birdies, including a 45-foot putt on No. 17 and a 25-footer from off the fringe on the final hole.

Jones also had a bogey-free round over the 6,250-yard Bethesda Country Club course.

Missy McGeorge was third after shooting a 68. Therese Hession birdied two of the last three holes for a 69. Leading money-winner Betsy King shot a 70.

Despite a bogey on the 18th hole, Gene Littler shot a five-under-par 67 for the first-round lead in the U.S. West Showdown Senior PGA Tour event at Jeremy Ranch, Utah.

Dale Douglass and Lou Graham were tied for second place at 68.