GOLF ROUNDUP : Zoeller Holds Two-Shot Lead

Fuzzy Zoeller is taking his victories on the PGA Tour on a round-by-round basis these days.

“I guess I’m comfortable because I’ve got two rounds of golf under my belt,” Zoeller said Friday after shooting a 65 for a two-round total of 131 and a two-stroke lead in the $1.25-million St. Jude Classic at Memphis, Tenn.

Tour rookie Dicky Pride, who started the day tied for the lead, finished with a 67 for 133. He was tied at nine under with Gene Sauers and Jay Haas, each of whom shot 66.

Nick Price, the British Open winner and the defending champion, had a two-day total of 138 after shooting a 66.

The cut came at two-under 140, with casualties including John Daly, Tom Kite and Hale Irwin.

Zoeller, whose last victory was the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic in 1986, struggled with back problems before winning $378,175 in 1993.

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Lee Trevino and Jimmy Powell shot six-under-par 66s to share the first-round lead in the $650,000 Northville L.I. Classic at Jericho, N.Y.

Trevino, 54, who already has five victories in 15 tournaments this year, needs one more to tie Miller Barber for the Senior PGA Tour career lead of 24. Powell, 59, who didn’t join the regular PGA Tour until he was 45, shot a bogey-free round.

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Paul Azinger, who has spent this year undergoing treatment for cancer, will return to the tour next week at the Buick Open.

Azinger, 34, had the best season of his career in 1993 with three victories including the PGA Championship. He finished second on the money list with $1.4 million in winnings.

Doctors then discovered a lymphoma in his right shoulder and started Azinger on treatment that kept him out of competition for seven months.

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Juli Inkster shot a 69 to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the LPGA’s Lady Ping/Welch’s event at Canton, Mass. at seven-under-par 137.

Pat Bradley, Helen Alfredsson, Annika Sorenstam and Melissa McNamara, are tied for second at 138. Two strokes off the lead are Marianne Morris, Pearl Sinn and Robin Walton.

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Charles Howell of Augusta, Ga., advanced to the semifinals of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championships for the second consecutive year, eliminating tournament favorite Ted Oh of Torrance in the quarterfinals at Westfield, N.J.

Howell made a six-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Oh, who played in last year’s U.S. Open as a 16-year-old. Howell also defeated Jeremy Anderson of Lake Park, Fla. in the third round.

In today’s semifinals, Howell will play Andy Barnes of Stockton, who beat Brandon DiTullio of Thousand Oaks and Boyd Summerhays of Farmington, Utah. The other semifinal will have Mauricio Muniz of Puerto Rico against Terry Noe of Fullerton.