GOLF ROUNDUP : Love’s Bad Round of 67 Is Good for Lead

Davis Love III was all around the Harbour Town Golf Links on Thursday. But when the first round of the Heritage Classic at Hilton Head Island, S.C., was done, Love was in front with a four-under-par 67 that included two eagles, three birdies and three bogeys.

“It’s hard to describe my round without using four-letter words,” said Love, trying to become only the second player to win the Heritage two years in a row. “It was up and down. I guess that would be a nice way to put it.

“I hit some of the worst shots I’ve hit all year, and I still shot four under. When I start hitting good, maybe I’ll shoot a real low score.”

Still, it was good enough to give Love a one-shot lead over four golfers. Tied at 68 are Lanny Wadkins, Brad Faxon, Ed Humenik and Bruce Fleisher, whose 31 on the front nine was one stroke off the course record.

All four--like Love--teed off early, when the wind was weaker and the greens softer. The sea breeze kicked up in the afternoon, drying out the greens and making them harder.

Thirteen players are at 69, with another nine at 70, including two-time champions Hubert Green and Payne Stewart.

Stewart, who has missed the cut in three of his last four events, won the Heritage in 1989 and 1990.

Love started on the back side with six consecutive pars. Then he hit a nine-iron into the hole from 143 yards out for an eagle on the par-four, 376-yard 16th.

Love bogeyed No. 17 after hitting into the bunker. But then he birdied the next two holes, rolling in a 10-foot putt on No. 18 and a five-footer on No. 1 to get back to three-under.

He made two more bogeys, but then he hit a four-iron to within 16 feet and sank that putt for an eagle on the par-five fifth hole, which Love said “saved my sanity.”

The wind rocked players back on their heels, produced some high scores and turned the first round of the PGA Seniors’ Championship at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., into a horror show.

Gary Player and Larry Ziegler, with 69s, were the only players to break 70. The average score was slightly over 78 and more than one-third of the field shot 80 and up in winds the weather bureau said gusted to 30 m.p.h. Players believed they were even higher.

Chi Chi Rodriguez (135 pounds), Dick Hendrickson (280 pounds) and Doug Dalziel shot 70.

“I’m just thankful to be through with it,” Hendrickson said. “The wind didn’t move me around much, but I don’t know how somebody like Chi Chi could play.”

Arnold Palmer shot a 77 and said he probably should be satisfied with it.

More than half the field would have been. Mal McMullen, Charles Moore, Buddy Overholser, Raymond Streeter and Gordon Waldespuhl each shot 88, with Streeter taking an “11” on the par-three 17th hole.

Angie Ridgeway, a 27-year-old rookie, shot an eight-under-par 64 to take a three-shot lead after the first round of the LPGA event at Stockbridge, Ga.

Ridgeway, who qualified for the LPGA Tour last October after four years on the Futures Tour, had no bogeys in her lowest round since graduating from Appalachian State University in 1987.

Tied for second at 67 were Caroline Pierce of England, Laurel Kean, Missie Berteotti, Deb Richard and Val Skinner.