GOLF ROUNDUP : O’Meara Moves Into International Lead

Mark O’Meara birdied the final hole Friday to take the second-round lead in the International at Castle Rock, Colo.

O’Meara’s seven-iron from 199 yards away in the mile-high altitude set up a five-foot birdie putt that gave him 22 points, one more than Phil Blackmar and rookie Skip Kendall under the unique scoring system used for this event.

It is based on points, which are awarded for a player’s performance on each hole; five for an eagle and two for a birdie. No points are awarded for par and a player loses one for a bogey and two for a double bogey and higher.

Blackmar collected 15 points during the second round on eight birdies--five in a row--and a bogey.

Brad Faxon bogeyed the final hole and dropped to 20.

Left-hander Phil Mickelson was next at 18; Greg Norman had 17 and Brian Claar 16.

For the first time, point totals will be carried over for all four days.

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Dave Stockton birdied the first four holes and flirted with a course record before settling for a seven-under-par 65 and a two-shot lead after the opening round of the $500,000 GTE Northwest Classic at Kenmore, Wash.

Richard Rhyan, Dale Douglass and Bob Betley share second place at 67, one stroke ahead of Doug Dalziel, Dick Hendrickson, Calvin Peete and Bob Brue.

Stockton birdied five of the first seven holes on the front side of the 6,455-yard, par-72 Inglewood Country Club course. He opened the back nine with consecutive birdies to reach seven under, two shy of tying Chi Chi Rodriguez’s nine-under-par 63 in 1991.

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Dana Lofland-Dormann had seven birdies in an opening-round six-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Beth Daniel and Cindy Rarick in the $450,000 Minnesota LPGA Classic at Brooklyn Park, Minn.

Lofland-Dormann had five birdies on the back nine of the 6,141-yard Edingurgh USA course.

Jan Stephenson, Melissa McNamara, Stephanie Farwig and Tina Barrett were all at 68, while Deb Richard and Gail Graham were another stroke back. Amy Alcott led a group of 11 at 70.