GOLF ROUNDUP : 66 Gives Palmer Tie for Lead

Arnold Palmer shot a four-under-par 66 Thursday at Turnberry, Scotland, to tie for the first-round lead in the Seniors British Open.

Palmer, 60, had six birdies to tie playing partner Brian Waites for the lead. Waites, an Englishman and former Ryder Cup player, was making his debut in a seniors event.

One shot behind the two were Deane Beman, commissioner of the American PGA Tour, and South African Simon Hobday.

Waites said he kept reminding himself to concentrate on his game and not think about playing with Palmer.

“I played with Arnold in the last round of the British Open in 1975 when I was virtually unknown,” he said. “I stood back and watched him for 18 holes, forgetting that I had to play, too.

“It’s so easy to do that when you play beside someone like Palmer or (Jack) Nicklaus. In that last round he shot 73 and I had a 78, but I remembered what happened that day and was determined not to let it happen again.”

Defending champion Bob Charles of New Zealand and John Fourie of South Africa were tied at 68, with four players, including Joe Carr of the United States and Gary Player of South Africa, at 69.

Chris Johnson mastered the difficult Bethesda (Md.) Country Club course that humbled most of the field, making five birdies and taking a two-stroke lead after the first round of the $1-million LPGA Championship.

Her four-under-par 67 was one of 10 scores in the 144-women field to break par on the 6,246-yard course. In addition to battling tight fairways, the golfers were forced to deal with greens that were extremely fast because of a recent dry spell.

“The greens were real tough and crusty,” said Colleen Walker, who shot a 69. “The ball seems to pop up and down a lot when you’re putting.”

Sarah McGuire, Amy Benz, Rosie Jones and Hiromi Kobayashi also were two shots back, and Cathy Johnston was among a group of four at 70.

Patty Sheehan, the runner-up in the women’s U.S. Open and at the Phar-Mor Classic the past two weeks, started her round with two bogeys and finished with a 75. Betsy King had three consecutive bogeys on the back nine for a 72. Defending champion Nancy Lopez had a round of 78 that included five bogeys and a double bogey.

“It’s the type of course where you have to hit good shots to make par,” Lopez said. “If you don’t get close to the hole on your approach, you’ve got a tough birdie.”

Wayne Levi, who already leads the PGA Tour in victories this year, put himself into position for a fourth title with a 65 for a share of the opening-round lead in the Buick Open at Grand Blanc, Mich.

Levi’s seven-under-par round tied him with U.S. Open runner-up Mike Donald and Buddy Gardner.

The leaders were one stroke ahead of defending champion Leonard Thompson, Fuzzy Zoeller and Chip Beck.

U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin was in a group at 69. Payne Stewart, runner-up in the British Open last week and considered the favorite here, shot 74.

Donald, who lost to Irwin in a playoff last month at Medinah, had a chance to run away from the field. An eagle on the 490-yard 13th got him to seven-under, but he finished with five pars.