GOLF ROUNDUP : Sullivan Falters on 18, Falls Into Tie With Elkington

Mike Sullivan’s bogey on the 18th hole gave him a third-round 68 and dropped him into a tie for the lead with Steve Elkington at 10-under-par 210 Saturday in the Buick Open at Grand Blanc, Mich.

Elkington shot a 67.

“I pulled my tee shot just a little,” Sullivan said, explaining his plight on the 18th. “The wind was blowing harder than I can ever remember it here. I was afraid to hit a shot, fearing it would fly the green and end up in the back bunker. So I tried to take a six-iron and just chip it about 172 yards. But it was short of the green.”

And he needed three more to get down at the 435-yard par-four.

“Sometimes I out-think myself,” Sullivan said. “I just haven’t let myself play well.”

There was a logjam of four golfers two strokes behind the leaders at Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club. Defending champion Brad Faxon shot 70, Keith Clearwater 70, Australian Wayne Grady 73 and John Huston 71.

Elkington began at five-under 139 and dropped a stroke with a bogey on the second hole, but birdies at Nos. 5 and 7 enabled him to turn at six under. He birdied the 10th, 11th, 16th and 17th holes to go 10 under.

Elkington won the Tournament of Champions in January at La Costa.

The start of the third round was delayed 2 hours 24 minutes by heavy overnight rains that soaked the course.

Sullivan started the day at 138 and remained six under at the turn, but he ran off a dramatic string of five consecutive birdies, starting at the par-four 11th, to join the chase.

Walt Zembriski maintained a share of the lead after two rounds of the Digital Senior Classic but was joined by a rejuvenated Mike Hill, who came back to the Tour after three weeks off.

Zembriski, who held a one-stroke lead at Nashawtuc Country Club at Concord, Mass., after the first round, shot a two-under-par 70 to go to an eight-under 136. He had a consistent round of three birdies and one bogey.

Hill, the tour’s co-player of the year in 1991, was three strokes behind Zembriski after the first day but caught him Saturday with a five-under 67.

Hill, who is fourth on the money list this year ($400,035), already has 10 top-10 finishes, even with the layoff. He is looking for his 13th victory on the Senior Tour.

DeWitt Weaver, Gary Player and Bruce Crampton enter today’s final round two strokes behind the leaders. Weaver thrived on the back nine again Saturday. He had six birdies on holes 10-18 on Friday, and followed up Saturday with three birdies and an eagle that came on an uphill 35-foot putt on No. 18.

Cindy Rarick made six birdies and pulled into a tie with Dottie Mochrie for the lead after three rounds of the Stratton Mountain Classic in Vermont.

Rarick, whose 10th-place finish last week is her best showing this season, had only one bogey and finished with a five-under-par 66 for a 54-hole total of 209.

Mochrie, the tour’s leading money winner and seeking her second consecutive victory, started the day two strokes off the pace at four under and climbed into a share of the lead. She had 16 pars, one birdie and a one-shot lead until she bogeyed the 16th hole to fall into a tie with Rarick.

Rosie Jones, who started five strokes off the lead, opened with two bogeys and had two more during a strange round, but she rebounded for six birdies and a 69 that brought her in at 210, tied with second-round leader Betsy King.