GOLF DINAH SHORE TOURNAMENT : Alcott Remains in Harmony, Shoots 70 for Two-Shot Lead Over Furlong

Amy Alcott said Gene Littler once told her that there are only one or two weeks every year when your golf game and body are in tune--and that’s when you win.

Alcott appears to be enjoying such a conjunction now.

She shot a two-under-par 70 Friday in the Nabisco Dinah Shore tournament at Mission Hills Country Club to maintain her lead after an opening round of 67.

With her 36-hole total of 137, seven under par, Alcott has a two-stroke lead over Shirley Furlong, who shot a 68 Friday. Meg Mallon, Lauri Merten and Ayako Okamoto of Japan are at 140.

“I played great,” said Alcott, who won here in 1983 and ’88. “I didn’t hit the ball quite as close to the hole today and didn’t have as many makeable birdie putts.

“But I’m on my game plan, being aggressive and going for the hole.”

On another mildly warm day in the desert with negligible wind, Alcott was steady. She had only two birdies but didn’t make a bogey.

“I’m a little disappointed that I only had two birdies, but you can’t make them all,” Alcott said.

Alcott started on the 10th hole and she said her most rewarding shot came on the par-five 18th, after her second shot found a fairway bunker.

“I hit an eight-iron out of the bunker and let ‘er rip,” Alcott said. “I couldn’t hit that shot better in my dreams.”

The ball landed six feet short of the cup, and then she barely missed her birdie putt.

“Such a great shot,” said Alcott, referring to the eight-iron, “and then (the putt) hangs on the lip.”

Alcott’s momentary disappointment was overcome by her joy over her round.

Asked if she will win if she continues to play the way she has, Alcott said: “Unless someone plays better. Anything can happen in golf, and it usually does. You never say you want to win. You get a few breaks and it’s a byproduct of playing well.

“There’s nothing I can do (about the other players) unless I put a firecracker in someone’s bag on their golf swing.”

Furlong, who finished in a tie for second here last year, also started on the 10th hole. Furlong’s drive on the par-four, 386-yard 13th wound up near a trash can. “That seemed to symbolize the hole,” she said. However, she made a scrambling par.

“That seemed to turn me around,” said Furlong, who proceeded to get four birdies on her front nine.

Furlong suffered an injured left knee last Thanksgiving while playing touch football. “I went out for a pass,” she said. “It was a down-and-in, and I did a down-and-down.”

Furlong was fitted for a knee brace, but she wasn’t wearing it on the course Friday for the first time since her injury.

“It was scary for a while, whether I would have surgery. With the brace on, I played cautiously,” she said. “I have now totally retired from football, basketball, softball and water-skiing.”

Golf Notes

The cut was at 149 or better, with 72 players qualifying for the final 36 holes. . . . Meg Mallon is getting change in the mail. She said she likes to mark her balls with old coins, preferably ones ending in the figures 66 and 67--low golf scores, of course. Since a newspaper article told about her idiosyncrasy, Mallon said she has been receiving nickels and dimes by the score. “I guess I get about $1.50 worth a week,” she said.

Mallon played with Lori Garbacz Friday. Garbacz got a hole in one at the 137-yard, par-three No. 14 with an eight-iron. Mallon used a seven-iron and found the water. She got a double-bogey on the hole, then another bogey at No. 15 but saved her round of 70 with a birdie at the par-five 18th. “Some points I was in control, other points I wasn’t,” she said. “I just lost concentration on 14.” Mallon, 27, from Ramona, Calif., won a tournament last month for her first victory on the LPGA tour. She played here for the first time last year, finishing ninth.