GOLF ROUNDUP : Weiskopf Has 64 to Tie for Lead

Tom Weiskopf, facing surgery on his left knee as early as Monday, played with the precision of a surgeon Friday at the PGA Seniors Championship at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

Weiskopf shot an eight-under-par 64 that moved him into a tie for the lead at the halfway point of the oldest tournament on the over-50 circuit.

“As good as I’ve ever played in my life,” Weiskopf said, after he went past 24 players and tied J.C. Snead with a 36-hole total of seven-under-par 137.

Snead had a 69 over a PGA National Golf Club course softened by a morning shower that, Weiskopf said, provided perfect scoring conditions.

Weiskopf scored seven birdies and an eagle and came within one stroke of the low score of a career that includes 15 regular PGA Tour victories, the 1973 British Open title and a triumph earlier this season against a limited field in his first start as a senior.

The arthroscopic surgery he underwent last December has not completely healed and nearly forced him out of this tournament. Weiskopf said he has a doctor’s appointment Monday, “and if more surgery is needed, it’ll be done immediately.”

Jim Albus and Tom Wargo are a stroke off the lead at 138. Harold Henning and Isao Aoki are at 139 and Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino are at 140.

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Masters champion Bernhard Langer continued his precision shot-making and was tied for the lead with David Frost and David Edwards after two rounds at the Heritage Classic at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Langer put together a round of seven birdies and a bogey to end with a 65 and a 36-hole total of 134, eight under par.

Frost had two bogeys on the front nine, but came in with a 32 for his second consecutive 67. Edwards also had a 32 on his final nine and grabbed a share of the lead with a 66.

First-round leader and two-time champion Payne Stewart managed a 70 and was tied with Bob Estes, a shot behind the leaders.

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LPGA champion Betsy King birdied the first three holes en route to a five-under-par 67 that gave her a two-shot lead halfway through the Atlanta Women’s Championship at Stockbridge, Ga.

King, who needs two more victories to qualify for the LPGA Hall of Fame, held the lead over defending champion and first-round leader Dottie Mochrie, Sherri Steinhauer and Michelle Estill.

King had a five-under-par 139 total for 36 holes on the hilly 6,209-yard Eagle’s Landing Country Club course.