GOLF ROUNDUP : Pavin, Faldo, Ballesteros Are Hot, but No Match for Winners

Former champions Corey Pavin, Nick Faldo and Seve Ballesteros shot magnificent rounds--a combined 28 under par--yet all three were beaten Friday in the second round of the World Match Play Championship at Virginia Water, England.

Defending champion Pavin, who carded two rounds of 67 on the par-72 West Course at Wentworth, missed a nine-foot putt for victory at the 36th hole before losing to Vijay Singh at the 37th.

Ballesteros made 14 birdies, but Ernie Els was hotter and won, 2 and 1, in a record-setting match that also ended the Spaniard’s bid for a record sixth title.

Faldo, a two-time winner, had two eagles in rounds of 68 and 66, but lost to Colin Montgomerie by one hole.

“The only thing that irritates me is that I had the match in my hands and I let it go,” said Pavin, who blew four leads in his match with Singh.

Ballesteros, who carded 13 birdies to defeat David Frost, 8 and 7, in the first round, brought his two-day birdie total to 27. Ballesteros and Els halved five of their 35 holes with 2s, the most ever in a single match in the tournament’s 31-year history.

“What can I say? I felt that I played very well,” said Ballesteros, who received huge support from the crowd.

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Bob Estes hit his target and in doing so, almost established a PGA record in the second round of the $1-million Texas Open at San Antonio.

Estes, who shot a 62 in the first round, shot a 65 at Oak Hills Country Club for a 36-hole total of 15-under par 127. That missed Tommy Bolt’s record, set in the 1954 Virginia Beach Open, by a single stroke.

Estes had set 65 as a target for himself to combat a possible letdown after his first round.

Bob Tway was second at 67-130.

Nick Price, winner of the PGA, the British Open and five tour titles this year, missed the cut at 72-140.

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Gibby Gilbert birdied four of the first six holes on the back nine to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the $650,000 Senior Gold Rush tournament at Rancho Murieta Country Club.

Gilbert’s five-under-par 67 leads Dave Eichelberger and Simon Hobday. Jim Albus, Tommy Aycock, Larry Gilbert, Bob Murphy, Terry Dill and Ben Smith are another stroke behind at 69.

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Elaine Crosby shot a course record 66 to move into a share of the second-round lead with Dottie Mochrie in the World Championship of Women’s Golf at Naples, Fla. Mochrie shot a 69 and both players are at 136. Beth Daniel, Liselotte Neumann, Val Skinner and Sherri Steinhauer are two back.