GOLF ROUNDUP : Gallagher Shoots a 65, Leads by One

Jim Gallagher Jr., one of the rising stars on the PGA Tour, moved to the top of leaderboard Friday after two rounds of the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic at Williamsburg, Va.

Gallagher shot a six-under-par 65, matching the best score of the first two rounds, to reach the halfway point of the $1.1 million event at eight-under 134.

Blaine McCallister’s 67 and Jim Carter’s 69 left them one stroke off the lead, and Steve Pate had a 66 and Jim McGovern and Ted Tryba 67s to join Scott Hoch and Fred Funk in a group at 136.

Don Reese also shot 65 Friday and was one of nine players at 137. Kirk Triplett, who was eight under after 15 holes, bogeyed 16 and was penalized two strokes for putting from the wrong marker on the 18th green. He’s also at 137.

Gallagher, who made a 12-foot birdie putt on 18, had moved from a pack at five under with an eagle on No. 15.

“I was trying to land the ball on the green and it came out a little soft,” he said of the sand wedge from 20 feet. “But it hit the fringe hard and released really well. I was surprised it rolled as far as it did.”

Gallagher made a similar shot two weeks ago on his way to winning the St. Jude Classic in Memphis, his second victory of the year. He’s also finished second twice and is sixth on the money list with $832,038.

“A win here could get me on the Ryder Cup team,” said Gallagher, who currently stands 11th in the rankings, one spot away from an automatic berth for the international event. “That was one of my goals at the start of the year.”

Carter, who snuck onto the leaderboard late Thursday with a bogey-free 66, followed with a scatter-shot 69 that included seven birdies and five bogeys on the 6,797-yard River Course of the Kingsmill Golf Club.

He capped a three-birdie string by chipping in from deep grass on the par-3 5th, but also three-putted twice. All of his bogeys came in two stretches after he had pushed his score to 10 under.

“That stuff happens,” he said after closing with three straight bogeys. “The finish is discouraging, but I’ll learn from it. It’ll probably help me on the weekend, so maybe it’s just an investment.”

Carter’s best finish this year was a tie for 12th at the Phoenix Open in January. He was third in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 1989, but spent most of the last five years trying to rebuild his career.

“I just wasn’t hitting it good enough to be on the tour,” he said. “I lost my confidence. It’s a long way to fall and a long way back.

“I’ve played lots of good golf, but just haven’t had good finishes. With two days to go, I’m in good position. Now I want to have a real solid round Saturday and at least have a chance with nine holes to go on Sunday.”

McCallister had five birdies and just one bogey. He hit 12 of 14 fairways and said avoiding the thicker-than-usual rough is a key at Kingsmill.

“It’s like a one-shot penalty if you hit it in the rough,” McCallister said. “The rough is the big equalizer this year.”

Defending champion Mark McCumber and Curtis Strange, who lives at Kingsmill, were two of the eight players who just made the cut at even par.

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Australia’s Wayne Riley fought off bitterly cold, blustery conditions at Carnoustie, Scotland, to shoot a three-under-par 69 and take a five-stroke lead after three rounds of the Scottish Open.

Nick Faldo is second at 209 after shooting a 70.

Colin Montgomerie, who started the day as the co-leader with Riley, shot a 75 and dropped back to third at 210.

Tiger Woods, the 19-year-old U.S. amateur champion, also had a 75 for 215.