Frost Stays Hot at St. Jude Classic

Dissatisfied with his play of late, David Frost wasn’t sure he would even enter the St. Jude Classic. He did so only because he believed he needed the practice.

Some practice.

Frost fired his second consecutive 63 on Friday, tying a PGA Tour record with a two-day total of 126, good for 16 under par and a four-stroke lead over Hal Sutton at Memphis, Tenn.

Frost credited his good play to a tip given to him on the driving range at his club in Dallas just before he departed for Memphis on Wednesday. A friend, he said, told him to “turn through the ball. Don’t hang behind it.”

“I got to my hotel room at the end of the night . . . and I made a couple of swings. No club. I just felt this flow through the ball,” he said. “I even said to my wife, ‘What does this look like? Does it look a bit floppy?’

She said, ‘No, it looks all right.’ ”

Frost said he hit some practice balls Thursday using the swing, then teed off and hit a drive down the middle. He has been using the swing since and, combined with a less-intense focus while playing, has seen great results.

Five other golfers have shot 126 for the first two rounds of a PGA tournament, among them John Cook, who set his mark in the 1996 St. Jude, also played at the par-71 Tournament Players Club at Southwind.

Frost did not play St. Jude that year, but recalled watching it on television and thinking, “How the hell can a guy shoot those scores?”

“I obviously didn’t expect to shoot two 63s,” he said. “Last year, I shot two 71s and missed the cut.”

*

Jean Zedlitz, displaying unusual composure after years of failure on the LPGA Tour, fired a one-under 71 to grab a two-stroke lead midway through the Rochester International at Rochester, N.Y., and was at five-under 139.

Sweden’s Eva Dahllof carded a 70 to join Leigh Ann Mills and Cindy McCurdy at three under. Karrie Webb of Australia, the leading money-winner this year, roared back into contention with a 67 that moved her to two under along with Liselotte Neumann and Tammie Green.

Se Ri Pak of South Korea, struggling to regain her form as a rookie last year, fired a 66--the second round’s best score--to claw her way back to one under.

Michele Redman, who had shared the first-round lead with Zedlitz, fell away with a 79. Defending champion Rosie Jones carded 69 to get back to par.

*

Laura Davies took the lead after the third round of the $1.1-million Evian Masters at Evian, France, and stands poised to win her first title of the year.

Under blue skies, the 36-year-old Englishwoman shot a four-under 68 over the 5,975-yard Royal Evian course.

With only today’s round to play, Davies is seven under at 209, and holds a two-shot lead over Catrina Nilsmark of Sweden.

*

Jim Albus birdied four consecutive holes en route to a seven-under 65 and the first-round lead in the BellSouth Senior Classic at Nashville.

Albus held a one-shot lead over David Lundstrom, who got into the tournament as an alternate when Allen Doyle was forced to withdraw, and Howard Twitty, who toured the 6,783-yard Springhouse Golf Club course in a pair of spiked sandals designed to relieve his ailing feet.

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In Front

Leaders through Friday’s play:

ST. JUDE CLASSIC--Par 71

David Frost 63-63--126 -16

Hal Sutton 63-67--130 -12

P.H. Horgan III 67-64--131 -11

Tom Lehman 63-68--131 -11

Jerry Kelly 65-66--131 -11

Emlyn Aubrey 68-64--132 -10

Ted Tryba 68-64--132 -10

Omar Uresti 65-67--132 -10

Tim Herron 67-66--133 -9

Tom Scherrer 66-67--133 -9

Robert Allenby 67-66--133 -9

Danny Briggs 69-64--133 -9

LPGA AT ROCHESTER--Par 72

Jean Zedlitz 68-71--139 -5

Cindy McCurdy 71-70--141 -3

Eva Dahllof 71-70--141 -3

Leigh Ann Mills 70-71--141 -3

BELLSOUTH SENIOR--Par 72

Jim Albus 34-31--65 -7

D. Lundstrom 33-33--66 -6

Howard Twitty 34-32--66 -6

Complete results, D12