GOLF ROUNDUP : Mickelson Continues His March

In 1988, Harry Rudolph of La Jolla failed in his bid to become the CIF-San Diego Section’s first three-time golf champion. Phil Mickelson of USDHS beat him by four strokes that year.

Though Rudolph would like to return the favor this year, even he concedes the odds are astronomical for Mickelson not to win his third NCAA Golf Championship.

“I’d have to shoot something like 52,” said Rudolph, who is second to Mickelson after three rounds. Second, but nine strokes back.

Mickelson’s three-under 69 Friday on the 7,246-yard, par-72 Championship Course at the University of New Mexico left him at 19-under, a tournament record for 54 holes.

It was Mickelson’s third record in as many days. A fourth and fifth record could bear his name by this afternoon.

Barring catastrophe, Mickelson should win his third NCAA title, matching the record of Texas’ Ben Crenshaw. Mickelson is also on pace to break the tournament scoring record of 17-under set by John Inman of North Carolina in 1984. Before Friday, Inman had held the 54-hole record of 12-under.

As for Rudolph, his 10-under 206 is closer to Manny Zerman’s 209 than Mickelson’s 197.

Zerman and Mickelson are former teammates from USDHS. Rudolph are Zerman are current teammates at Arizona, which leads Mickelson’s Arizona State by six strokes in the team standings, but Rudolph also has a score to settle with Zerman.

A few weeks after Mickelson beat Rudolph for the 1988 section title, Zerman edged Rudolph by one stroke in the Southern California Golf Championship, a title Mickelson had won in 1987.

On Friday, Rudolph moved up to second with a 66. Zerman, with a 67, rose to third from a tie for seventh after 36 holes.

Nolan Henke and Joey Sindelar shared the second-round lead when a series of storms forced an overnight delay in the Memorial tournament at Dublin, Ohio.

Henke and Sindelar, who completed their rounds before the storms struck Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village Golf Club late Friday, were at 134, 10 under par.

Bobby Nichols and Jim Colbert were tied for the first-round lead at the Senior Tour’s PaineWebber Invitational after shooting seven-under-par 65s at Charlotte, N.C. Don Bies was a stroke behind at the Piper Glen course at Charlotte, N.C., with Lee Trevino, Mike Hill and Rocky Thompson at 67.

Steady rain washed out the second round of the LPGA McDonald’s Championship at Wilmington, Del., which forced organizers to cut the 72-hole tournament to 54 holes.