Tim Simpson Goes Fishing for an Open Championship : Golf: His 135 total for 36 holes at Medinah is one off the tournament record. No-bogey Sluman is a shot off the pace.

By MAL FLORENCE

June 16, 1990 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

MEDINAH, Ill. —

It has been said that Tim Simpson is the least-known player among the top 10 money-winners on the tour last year.

“That’s the truth,” Simpson said. “I just go about my business and the accolades will come.”

He moved a little closer to those accolades Friday by shooting a 69, three under par, for the lead in the 90th U.S. Open on Medinah Country Club’s No. 3 course.

Simpson was tied with Jeff Sluman and Scott Simpson after Thursday’s opening round at 66. Now he’s alone at the top of the leader board at 135, nine under par.

Sluman, with a 70, is a shot behind, and Mike Donald, who also had a 70, is two back at 137. Mark Brooks is at 138, and Scott Simpson and Hale Irwin are together at 139.

The tough Medinah course was still yielding low scores Friday, even though the greens dried out to some extent in humid, 80-degree weather.

Tim Simpson’s 135 is only one stroke behind the 36-hole Open record shared by Jack Nicklaus, who set it in 1980, and T.C. Chen, who tied it in 1985.

“I did some scrambling at times and made a couple of long putts,” Simpson said.

He finished with a flourish, with a birdie on the par-four, 440-yard 18th hole.

“I’m not scared. I feel comfortable,” he said of being the leader of the prestigious tournament.

Simpson also said he wasn’t especially excited when he finished.

“It was very humid out there, and the course wears you down,” he said. “It was like fighting Mike Tyson.”

He has two more rounds to go in this fight, and when asked what it would mean to him to win his first major, Simpson said:

“It would mean a lot. It would change my life.”

Simpson has said that he was his own worst enemy in previous years, with unreasonably high expectations.

He also said that he used to over-prepare for the major championships, and he missed the cut in the Open the last two years.

This year, he went salmon fishing instead.

Even though Simpson, 34, would become a celebrity of sorts by winning the Open, he doesn’t anticipate playing on the tour much longer.

“I don’t see myself playing out here past 38 or 40,” he said. “I’ve had a successful career, and I was just turning 21 when I came on the tour.

“There’s a point in your life when you say, ‘How much money is enough?’ You make one million and you want another million. I want to see my children grow up. I just don’t see myself playing the senior tour.”

Simpson sank a 40-foot putt for a birdie on the 412-yard fourth hole after he had played his only three-putt green in the tournament for a bogey on the third hole. He also saved par with a 30-foot putt on the 445-yard sixth hole.

He had three birdies on the back nine with putts of 15, 18 and four feet on the 13th, 16th and 18th holes.

Simpson said he has patterned his game after the bold, aggressive style of Lanny Wadkins.

“He would fire at anything, but that’s what has held me back in the majors,” Simpson said. “I want to be aggressive, but intelligent aggressive.”

Sluman, who is the shortest player on the tour at 5 feet 7 and weighs only 135 pounds, says his size is not a handicap.

“The golf ball doesn’t know how big you are, and unless (other players) start driving the par-fours, it doesn’t make any difference how big you are,” he said.

Sluman said he wasn’t as sharp as he had been Thursday when he shot a 66, but he was reasonably satisfied with his round.

It was another bogey-free round with birdies at the par-four, 425-yard 16th and par-three, 168-yard 17th holes.

“I think it’s human nature to think about winning,” said Sluman, who won the 1988 PGA Championship for his only victory on the tour. “However, as soon as you think about it, you get realistic and think that you still have two days left.”

Donald, who had a 67 Thursday, remained in contention with his 70.

“I struggled through the early holes, but I think I’m in super shape,” he said. “My goal is just to give myself a chance to win with nine holes left in the tournament.”

Donald had an 82 in the second round of the Masters in April after opening with a 64.

“I didn’t have the Masters on my mind when I went out today,” he said.

Irwin, who at 45 is striving to become the oldest player to win the Open, said his round of 70 wasn’t indicative of how well he played.

“I have played few U.S. Open courses tee to green as well as I have played here,” he said of his rounds of 69 and 70. “However, I didn’t putt particularly well today.”

Irwin can speak with authority about the Open. He won the championship in 1974 and 1979, and he’s playing in his 21st Open.

Winning an Open gives a player a 10-year exemption from qualifying for the Open. So Irwin, who has been busy designing golf courses in recent years, is in this year’s Open on a special exemption.

“If I didn’t get it, I would still have tried to qualify for the Open,” he said.

Asked if his previous Open experience was a positive factor, he said: “Having played well and won a couple can’t hurt you. The experience is invaluable.”

As for his success in previous Opens, he said: “People rise to certain occasions, a certain style of course. Others back away from it. They’re not meaning to do it, but it’s just a lack of confidence.”

Open Notes

The cut was at 145, and some prominent players didn’t make it, including Payne Stewart, Mark Calcavecchia and Fred Couples, who are second, third and fifth on this year’s money list. Couples shot 146 (74-72), Stewart 148 (73-75) and Calcavecchia 150 (73-77). . . . Bernhard Langer, the 1985 Masters champion, didn’t make it either at 148 (78-70). Nor did Ben Crenshaw 147 (75-72). . . . Curtis Strange, the two-time defending Open champion, was at 143 (73-70), and Greg Norman (72-73) and Jack Nicklaus (71-74) were at 145.

Scott Simpson, the former USC star, wasn’t devastated by his round of 73 after sharing the first-day lead with a 66. “I didn’t put well and I hit a couple of bad shots that hurt me,” he said. “But I still feel I’m in pretty good shape. It takes a lot of patience to play in the U.S. Open.”

It has been said that Seve Ballesteros’ game isn’t suited to tight Open courses because he sprays his tee shots. Even so, Ballesteros shot a 69 Friday and is at 142. Asked why he hasn’t played particularly well in the Open compared to other majors, Ballesteros said: “I’ve had a couple of chances to win at Oakmont (fourth in 1983) and I was close at Olympic Club, too (third in 1987). When I won the 1979 British Open from the car park (parking lot), I became very famous for hitting all over the place. Since then people think I need 200-yard fairways. I don’t know.”

U.S. OPEN SCORES

SECOND-ROUND LEADERS

Tim Simpson: 66-69--135

Jeff Sluman: 66-70--136

Mike Donald: 67-70--137

Mark Brooks: 68-70--138

Scott Simpson: 66-73--139

Hale Irwin: 69-70--139

OTHERS

Seve Ballesteros: 73-69--142

Curtis Strange: 73-70--143

Jack Nicklaus: 71-74--145