Waldorf Blown Away by His Sizable Lead

On a day when the wind howled and scores soared, Duffy Waldorf may have been the most surprised golfer in the Las Vegas Invitational.

Make that pleasantly surprised, after a three-under-par 69 Friday left Waldorf with a four-shot lead after three rounds of a tournament suddenly turned topsy-turvy by wind gusting to 45 mph that caused scores to balloon.

“I never saw a leaderboard, so I didn’t know I had that kind of lead,” Waldorf said. “I really had no idea what a good round today would be.”

Playing away from scoreboards and on the Desert Inn Country Club course, the most sheltered of the three courses used in the tournament, Waldorf shot six strokes worse than he did a day earlier. It was still enough to vault him from a tie for the lead to a four-shot margin over Billy Mayfair at 19 under. Fred Couples was tied with Kevin Sutherland another shot back at 14 under.

Defending champion Tiger Woods, who double-bogeyed two holes on his front side after flubbing shots around the green, shot a five-over 77 on the more open TPC Summerlin course and was 12 shots back. First-round leader John Adams, meanwhile, didn’t even make the cut after shooting a 79 at the Las Vegas Country Club.

Phil Mickelson, who flirted with a 59 on Thursday before finishing with a 63, was 16 shots worse Friday after shooting a seven-over 79.

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Bob Eastwood, continuing the finest season of his career, shot a five-under 67 in a strong, steady wind for a two-stroke lead over five players in the first round of the Raley’s Senior Gold Rush at El Dorado Hills, Calif.

Gary Player, 61, who has won a combined six British Opens on the PGA and senior tours, shot a 69 to join rookie John Morgan, Jim Dent, Tom Wargo and Bruce Summerhays.

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Ken Bakst birdied the 18th hole with a seven-iron shot to within four feet of the cup to defeat Rick Stimmel and win the 1997 U.S. Mid-Amateur championship at the Dallas Athletic Club.

Bakst, 39, of New York rallied from a two-hole deficit at the turn by shooting four-under par for the last 11 holes, and the two were even coming to the last hole.

Bakst won the Robert T. Jones Memorial Trophy and a likely invitation to play in the 1998 Masters.