GOLF ROUNDUP : Snead’s 36-Hole Record Gives Him 5-Shot Lead

After shooting a course-record 65 in the opening round of the Senior Players Championship, J.C. Snead followed it with a 66 Friday to open a five-stroke lead at the par-72, 6,876-yard TPC of Michigan layout at Dearborn.

With a 36-hole record of 131, an improbable 13 under par, Snead threatens to make a runaway of the $1-million event, considered one of the majors on the Senior PGA Tour.

The former halfway mark was 11 under by Jack Nicklaus in 1990, when the tournament was played at nearby Dearborn Country Club.

Snead’s nearest challenger, left-hander Bob Charles, shot a 69. Dave Stockton, who shot 67, was at 138.

Harold Henning, Kermit Zarley and Tommy Aaron were at 139. Simon Hobday matched Snead’s record with a second-round 65 and was tied with Lee Trevino, Al Geiberger and Jim Ferree at 140.

“If J.C. continues to play like this, nobody’s going to catch him,” Hobday said. “The weather is the key. The wind hasn’t been too bad.”

But, said Charles: “Five shots isn’t an insurmountable lead. If the weather changes, anything can happen.”

Dan Forsman weathered a course-record charge by Jim McGovern, scrambling to a five-under-par 66 and building a two-stroke lead in the second round of the storm-plagued $1.1 million St. Jude Classic at Memphis, Tenn.

PGA Tour officials suspended play with 77 golfers still on the course after two delays totaling almost three hours.

Forsman carded six birdies, three bogeys and an eagle for a 36-hole total of 12-under-par 130. McGovern tied the course record at the 7,006-yard, par-71 TPC at Southwind course with a nine-under 62.

First-round leader Peter Persons shot 71 and joined four others at 133.

Fred Couples, the Masters and defending St. Jude champion, completed 10 holes Friday and is at even par for the tournament.

Linda Hunt, who four years ago walked away from the tour in frustration, birdied the first four holes en route to a 66 and a share of the first-round lead in the Shoprite LPGA Classic at Somers Point, N.J.

Hiromi Kobayashi shared the lead with Hunt at five under par. Susie Berning was two shots behind, and one in front of Loretta Alderete, Donna Andrews, Mitzi Edge, Anne-Marie Palli and Cindy Mackey.