GOLF TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP : Gallagher’s 73 Turns a Runaway Into a Logjam

Jim Gallagher Jr. shot a course-record 63 on Thursday, eight under par, in the first round of the Tour Championship on the Lake course at the Olympic Club.

He was 10 shots higher on Friday and yet he still wound up with a share of the lead with David Frost, who shot a 68. They each have a 36-hole total of 136, six under par.

Tom Kite, who has played his best golf on California courses, surged into contention on another warm day in the Bay Area.

Kite shot a 68 and, at 137, trails Gallagher and Frost by one stroke.

Gallagher didn’t seem upset about his reversal of fortune. In fact, he was thankful that his score wasn’t higher. He chipped in for birdies on two holes.

“It was 10 shots different, but it felt like 15,” Gallagher said. “This course is not going to let you shoot low numbers every day.”

And he knew that he would be challenged, saying, “These guys are too good to sit back.”

The South African-born Frost, who won two tour events in September, said his round was just plain work.

“It’s not that I think it’s a boring course, but you have to think about your safe shots all the time,” he said.

Eight players are within four shots of the lead, including Greg Norman, who had the low round of the day, a 67, for a 36-hole score of 139.

Mark Calcavecchia, Rick Fehr and Scott Simpson are tied at 138.

Rocco Mediate, bothered by a strained ligament in his back, made a comeback, shooting a 70 after a 78 on Thursday. He is pursuing his vow not to finish last.

Davis Love III and Billy Mayfair trail Mediate at 149 and 154, respectively, and they aren’t suffering from back problems.

Kite is comfortable on California courses.

He won the U.S. Open in 1992 at Pebble Beach, where he won the regular tour event in 1983. He also won Tournament of Champions at La Costa in 1985 and 1991.

Earlier this year he scorched some California courses again.

Kite won the 90-hole Bob Hope tournament with a record score of 35 under followed by a victory in the Los Angeles Open.

“There is no rhyme or reason for it,” Kite said. “I just play well here.”

Kite said the Olympic Club course is similar to Pebble Beach.

“You have the ocean there and the trees here, but you have the same sloping fairways and small greens.”

Kite said the Tour Championship is moving up rapidly in prestige because of where the tournament has been held.

He cited Pebble Beach, Harbor Town at Hilton Head, S.C., and Pinehurst at North Carolina among others.

“I am playing well now and I like my chances on just about any course where you have to work hard to play well,” Kite said.

Even though the winner will receive a check for $540,000, and player of the year and leading money winner honors are at stake in the Tour Championship, Kite said he isn’t motivated by money.

“If you’re just playing for money, you’re probably not going to do any good,” said Kite, the all-time leading money winner with more than $8 million. “I don’t know of anybody in any profession that is successful doing it strictly for money.”

Kite had six birdies and three bogeys, including a bogey on the 18th hole that cost him a share of the lead.

Gallagher went to nine under with a birdie on the par-five first hole. He also had five bogeys along with two more birdies while chipping in from 25 feet and 20 feet on the 11th and 14th holes.

“Those chip-ins saved the day,” Gallagher said.

Frost had five birdies and two bogeys in his round, including an uphill birdie putt of 15 feet on the 18th hole.

Norman saved a par on the 18th green for his 67. It wasn’t easy. His second shot found a greenside bunker and he came out within seven feet of the cup.

“Seven feet looked like 100 feet to me,” Norman said of his downhill putt. “If it doesn’t go in, it goes 12 to 15 feet past.”

Norman wasn’t surprised that Gallagher slumped to a 73.

“It’s the kind of course that gets back at you sooner, or later,” he said.

For Gallagher, it was sooner.