Golf Roundup : Thunderstorms Put Colonial on Hold

No one in the field of 110 players finished a round and 57 hadn’t even started when a series of thunderstorms forced an overnight suspension of the first round of the Southwestern Bell Colonial at Fort Worth, Tex.

The suspension marked the second time in three weeks that violent spring weather had disrupted a PGA Tour event in North Texas.

The GTE Byron Nelson Classic, some 30 miles away, was reduced to a 36-hole format two weeks ago at Irving.

Players marked their positions when play was abandoned at 4:10 p.m. (CDT) on the rain-soaked Colonial Country Club course and were scheduled to return this morning to complete the first round.

The 57 golfers who didn’t start Thursday will play 36 holes, weather permitting today.

Of those on the course, John Cook held the lead. He was at five-under-par with five holes to play.

“With the forecast, we were kind of prepared for it,” he said. “We were running, trying to get in as many holes as we could before it was stopped.”

Still, he said, “it’s frustrating to have a good round going and not be able to finish.”

Tom Lehman, who scored a record-setting victory last week in the Memorial tournament in Dublin, Ohio, was four-under with three holes to go.

Nick Price, Hale Irwin, David Frost, Bruce Lietzke and Ken Green were at three-under. Frost had seven holes to play, Lietzke six, Price and Irwin five and Green four.

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Nancy Ramsbottom, who has not won on the LPGA tour in nearly a decade, eagled the eighth hole en route to an eight-under-par 64 and a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Corning Classic at Corning, N.Y.

Ramsbottom took advantage of an early tee time. A thunderstorm forced suspension of play for nearly an hour, but it softened up the Corning Country Club course for those who teed off before noon.

In the afternoon, winds started to swirl and the rain returned, causing the scores of most of the late starters to climb.

Pat Bradley and Amy Benz shared second at 65, and Beth Daniel was next at 67. Martha Nause, Alicia Dibos and Karen Noble were among a large group at 68.

Ramsbottom’s score was the best ever in an opening round of the Corning Classic, breaking the 65s shot by Kathy Young in 1987 and Colleen Walker in 1992. She had a six-under 30 on the front nine, which she played as her back nine.

Laura Davies was at 70.