GOLF ROUNDUP : Leader Gamez Has Lofty Aim: 30-Under at Milwaukee Open

Robert Gamez followed a record opening round with a six-under-par 66 Friday to go 17-under and lead the Greater Milwaukee Open by three strokes.

Gamez, whose 11-under 61 tied the Tuckaway Country Club record, said he knew things were going well from the start Friday.

“I just went out and tried to play the same aggressive game,” he said. “I birdied the first two holes, and I thought I could be just as low as I was (Thursday), if not lower.”

But bogeys on two holes--when he three-putted at Nos. 5 and 10--helped stop him from matching the record.

Tied at 14-under were Mark Brooks, Mark Hayes and Jeff Maggert.

Gamez, 23, who won twice last year but hasn’t won in 1991, said he’s aiming for 30-under par for the tournament.

That would beat the PGA Tour’s 72-hole record of 27-under-par, by Mike Souchak in the 1955 Texas Open and Ben Hogan at the 1945 Portland Invitational.

Larry Mowry, who had recently recovered from an inner-ear problem, shot a tournament-record eight-under-par 64 to take the lead after the weather-delayed opening round of the GTE North Classic at Indianapolis.

Mowry, playing in only his second tournament since May, opened a two-stroke lead over Dick Rhyan, Dale Douglass and George Archer. The leader’s score was one stroke better than the mark, posted by several players in the tournament’s four-year history.

Mowry was studying a 15-foot birdie putt when play was halted for 53 minutes early on for thunder and lightning. He sank the putt when play resumed.

“I certainly had enough time to go over that putt,” he said.