Stocktons Are First Family of Links

Like father, like son. Like senior, like junior. Same name, same score, same result.

Dave Stockton fired his second consecutive 66 Friday to open a three-stroke lead midway through the Senior Players Championship at the TPC of Michigan in Dearborn.

Meanwhile, Dave Stockton Jr., a rookie on the PGA Tour, had his second consecutive 66 and led the field by a stroke in the Greater Hartford Open in Cromwell, Conn.

“I called Junior this morning and some of the TV guys told me how he was doing,” senior Stockton said. “But I couldn’t think about him while I was playing, not on this course.”

Stockton, at 12-under-par 132 for the tournament, is followed by Lee Trevino, who shot a 69 for a 135.

Stockton has shot eight consecutive sub-70 rounds.

The younger Stockton has an eight-under 132 after two rounds. David Frost shot a 68 for a 133 and sole possession of second place in the Hartford tournament.

The Stocktons could become the only father-son duo to win PGA tournaments in the same week and also the first to win the same tournament. The senior Stockton won the Greater Hartford Open in 1976.

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Missie McGeorge shot a five-under 66 and took a one-stroke lead in the opening round of the $500,000 ShopRite LPGA Classic in Somers Point, N.J.

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Temecula’s Ed Cuff provided the biggest surprise of the California amateur championship when he ousted teen-age star Tiger Woods of Cypress in the semifinal round at Pebble Beach.

Cuff beat Woods, the three-time USGA junior amateur champion, 2 and 1, earning a spot in today’s 36-hole finale against medalist Steve Woods.

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A 33-foot birdie putt helped Danville’s Jim McMurtrey win the third annual California senior amateur championship at Poppy Hills Golf Course in Pebble Beach by three strokes. McMurtrey finished the final round with a par 72 and a 54-hole total of 218.

Pro Basketball

About 400,000 Rocket fans jammed downtown Houston for a parade honoring the NBA champions.

The crowds, 15- and 20-deep in places, waited in sweltering 90-plus-degree heat and stifling humidity for the procession to pass.

At least 400 were treated by emergency medical service crews for heat-related problems, authorities said. About a dozen were hospitalized for seizures, heart attacks and minor injuries.

Players rode atop Rocket-red fire trucks and Coach Rudy Tomjanovich and team owner Leslie Alexander boarded a mockup of a space shuttle for the 1.3-mile, 17-block ride. Guard Kenny Smith held high the NBA championship trophy.

Miscellany

The Green Bay Packers signed linebacker Fred Strickland, a former Ram and Minnesota Viking. Strickland was a second-round draft choice of the Rams in 1988.

Chip Hanauer returned to the unlimited hydroplane racing circuit when he drove Miss Budweiser to the fastest qualifying time for Sunday’s the Thunder on the Ohio Race. Hanauer, who suffered broken bones in his lower back at the Gold Cup event in Detroit and sat out two races, had an average speed of 155.929 m.p.h.

Nevada Las Vegas, faced with a $10.5-million deficit, might not join the Western Athletic Conference because of a $600,000 admission fee. University regents voted to approve admission to the league on the condition that the conference drop the fee.

The Sacramento River Rats (1-5) scored a 9-7 roller hockey victory over the L.A. Blades (4-2) before 4,149 at Arco Arena.

Names in the News

Donovan (Razor) Ruddock has pulled out of a July 2 heavyweight fight against Olian Alexander to have surgery on his right foot, his doctor said. . . . Chicago Cub broadcaster Harry Caray received a phone call in a Miami hospital from President Clinton and was scheduled to return to Chicago today. Caray was hospitalized Thursday after he passed out at Joe Robbie Stadium.

Dean Crowley, 60, has been hired as commissioner of the CIF Southern Section. He has been acting commissioner since last October. . . . Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Joseph Dobson, who won Game 5 of the 1946 World Series against St. Louis, died Thursday at his Jacksonville home after a lengthy illness. He was 77.