Wadkins Leads as O’Meara Messes Up 18

Mark O’Meara spoiled an otherwise steady round with a double-bogey on the 18th hole that handed Lanny Wadkins a one-shot lead after Friday’s second round of the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic at Williamsburg, Va.

“I played the round I wanted to. I was only displeased with one shot,” said O’Meara, the first-round co-leader who finished two tours of Kingsmill Golf Club’s 6,790-yard layout in 10-under-par 132.

O’Meara had been on track to shoot a five-under 66 that would have put him a shot ahead of Wadkins, whose 66 earlier in the day left him at 131.

Instead, O’Meara hooked his drive on the 438-yard 18th hole into a pond and wound up with a six and a 68.

Curtis Strange, who lives on the grounds at Kingsmill, and Scott Verplank were at 133. Verplank shot a 64 and Strange a 67.

Gary Player, calling his game very suspect, shot a five-under-par 67 for the first-round lead in the Northville Long Island Classic seniors tournament at the Meadow Brook Club at Jericho, N.Y.

Player, 54, who won the inaugural Northville in 1987 when it was an unofficial stop on the Senior Tour, held a one-stroke lead over Charles Coody, Jim Dent and Joe Jimenez, who lost his share of the lead by bogeying the final hole.

Lee Trevino, who has dominated the tour in his rookie year with six victories and earnings of $598,633, was in a group at 72.

JoAnne Carner, winner of 42 LPGA events but none in the last five years, shot a four-under-par 67 to share the lead with non-winner Tina Tombs Purtzer after the first round of the Jamie Farr Toledo (Ohio) Classic.

U.S. Women’s Open champion Betsy King and Chris Johnson were a shot back at 68 on the 6,270-yard Highland Meadows Golf Club.

The 67 equaled Carner’s best round of the year and matched the best of Purtzer’s career.

Jan Stephenson, coming back from a hand injury, was joined at 69 by Susie Berning, Cindy Mackey, Nancy Rubin and Gina Hull.

Many in the 124-player field are using the event as a tuneup for the U.S. Open, to be played next week at the Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth, Ga.

Welshman Mark Mouland increased his lead to three shots in the Monte Carlo Open with a four-under-par 65 that gave him a 54-hole score of 195. Spain’s Seve Ballesteros moved into contention with a 63 to tie for sixth with Peter Smith of Britain at 201.