Stewart Unhappy With a 67 and Lead

Only in the Disney Classic, on a course like Florida’s Lake Buena Vista, could Payne Stewart walk away with a five-under-par 67 for the second-round lead Friday--and wonder what went wrong.

Len Mattiace, two strokes back after a 66, knows the feeling.

He was two under after nine holes when he turned to a friend and said, “I feel like I’m three over and going to shoot 78.”

Not until Stewart had changed out of his plus-fours was he able to put his round into perspective. He had a two-day total of 131, and a two-stroke lead over Mattiace and Andrew Magee.

He could have simply looked at how Tiger Woods fared at Lake Buena Vista and thanked his lucky stars that it wasn’t worse.

“There was a sense that I left a lot out on the golf course,” Stewart said. “I’m not saying I felt bad, but disappointed. But you’ve got to remember, it’s a total thing. My total is not bad right now.”

Brad Bryant, the 1995 Disney winner, was in a group at 10-under 134 that also included Phil Blackmar, Bill Glasson, Joe Durant and John Cook.

Woods made bogey on two of his first four holes, finished with a 71 and was at seven-under 137. Tom Lehman shot a 65 at Lake Buena Vista and was at 135.

The cut will be made after today, giving the players and their three amateur partners a round over each of the three courses used in the tournament.

The easiest of the three is Lake Buena Vista, where the average score over the past 13 years is 69.7.

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The United States swept past Japan, 3-0, to move one victory away from the final four at the Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews, Scotland.

The U.S. team got steady efforts from Mark O’Meara, Justin Leonard and Brad Faxon in its easy win over Japan and will advance to the semifinals from Group 1 with a victory over England today.

Zimbabwe, which defeated Spain, 2-1, will face New Zealand today already down 1-0. Zimbabwe’s Nick Price had to withdraw and forfeit his match against Frank Nobilo because of a muscle pull in his chest.

“It is a pulled muscle attached to the floating rib,” Price said. “It feels like a cracked rib, the pain.”

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Chris Johnson, Juli Inkster, Helen Alfredsson of Sweden and Australian Karrie Webb shared the lead midway through the LPGA Samsung World Championship of Women’s Golf after a windswept day at Lakeside Country Club in Seoul.

With the wind whipping shots around the 6,395-yard par 72 layout, no one in the elite field of 16 women was able to shoot in the 60s.

Alfredsson shot a 71, Johnson a 73 and Inkster and Webb a 74. All are at three-under 141.

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Steve Flesch shot a four-under 68 to take a three-stroke lead over Brian Kamm, Ben Bates and Mark Carnevale after the second round of the Nike Tour Championship at Opelika, Ala.

Flesch, a 30-year-old left-hander, had a seven-under 137 total on the Grand National Golf Club’s Lake Course. Twenty-fourth on the money list, Flesch needs a top-four finish in the $300,000 event to finish in the top 15 for an automatic berth on the 1998 PGA Tour.