Despite Rain at La Jolla, Kite Has Clear Look at the Lead

Only days after the Pebble Beach tournament was blown from February into August by El Nino, the second round of the Buick Invitational was washed out Friday when the greens at Torrey Pines in La Jolla became too wet to play.

Tom Kite, helped greatly in cold, windy rain by eye surgery that allows him to play without glasses, was nine under par through 29 holes, tied for the lead with Davis Love III, who had played 27 holes before play was suspended shortly after noon.

Steve Pate, Robert Damron and Jeff Sanday--playing in his first PGA Tour event--were at eight under. Pate and Damron had played 28 holes and Sanday had completed 26.

Seven players, including Payne Stewart and Stewart Cink, were at seven under. Tiger Woods, who started the day nine strokes back, got to four under through 30 holes to pull within five of the leaders.

Weather permitting, the second round will be resumed at 9 this morning, then the cut will be made and the third round played. Kite was perhaps the only player to find a silver lining in the rain clouds.

“I’ve got a whole different perspective on playing in the rain now,” Kite said about the surgery that corrected his eyesight. “These days used to wipe me out.”

Kite had the operation two weeks ago “and when I woke up I had better than 20-20 eyesight,” he said.

The season-opening Mercedes Championships was shortened to 54 holes last year because of rain and Pebble Beach has not been completed two of the past three years.

“I think everyone is on edge after last week,” Kite said. “There are just no other spots on the calendar to move events if they can’t be completed as scheduled.”

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Jim Albus shot a five-under 67 to take the first-round lead in the Senior PGA Tour’s LG Championship at Naples, Fla.

Tour rookie David Lundstrom birdied two of his final three holes to finish one stroke back at 68. Gil Morgan was third at 69, with Hale Irwin, Bob Murphy, Tom Wargo, Al Geiberger and Bob Eastwood tied at 70.

The 67 marked Albus’ lowest round since July and gave him is first tournament lead since 1995, when he won in San Antonio--87 starts ago.

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Greg Norman was upset by questions about his friendship with President Clinton, and the Australian’s game suffered in the second round of the Greg Norman International in Sydney.

Norman shot a 73 to drop seven shots behind leader Jose Maria Olazabal at 141.

Olazabal had his second consecutive five-under 67 for 134 and a one-stroke lead over John Cook, who had a 66.

Norman was asked about reports that independent counsel Kenneth Starr had subpoenaed television footage of Clinton’s visit to Florida last year--when he also visited Norman’s home--looking for possible footage of Clinton with former aide Monica Lewinsky. During the visit to Norman’s home, Clinton stumbled down stairs and injured a knee.

“I should be able to say ‘Yeah, you can go out there and play and it’s not on your mind,’ but I don’t think you could,” Norman said. “I don’t care how strong your mind is, it’s there. You’re not thinking about playing golf.”

Jack Nicklaus, who redesigned the Australian course, shot his second consecutive 71 to make the cut by three strokes.

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David Frost of South Africa shot a six-under 66 to move from seventh place to the lead at 134 after two rounds of the South African Open in Durban.

Countryman Ernie Els is two shots back at 136.