Stewart Leads Pga Buick

Payne Stewart, making a late run at a berth on the Ryder Cup team, shot his second consecutive 65 for a one-stroke lead over Woody Austin after two rounds of the Buick Open at Grand Blanc, Mich.

Jeff Sluman also had a 65 and was three strokes off the pace at 133.

Thirty-nine of the 156 players were still on the course when play was halted by darkness at 8:24 p.m.

Newcomer Catrin Nilsmark and veteran Allison Finney each shot 5-under-par 67s to share the first-round lead of the rain-delayed LPGA McCall’s Classic at Stratton Mountain, Vt. Robin Walton of Clarkston shot 72, and Tracy Hanson of Rathdrum, Idaho, carded a 73.

Buddy Allin, a Bronze Star winner during service in Vietnam, shot a 7-underpar 63 and took the early lead in the first PGA tournament sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Allin, a former artillery officer and Senior Tour rookie, had seven birdies and 11 pars on the rain-soaked Loch Lloyd course in Belton, Mo., and led Jay Sigel by two strokes after the first round of the VFW Senior Championship, formerly known as the Southwestern Bell Classic.

Spectators did a double take when they realized former baseball star George Brett was caddying for Larry Ziegler.

“I wish I could have played as well as he caddied,” said Ziegler, an old friend of the Kansas City Royals’ three-time batting champion. Ziegler shot a 1-over 71.

Jesper Parnevik shot his second 67 to take a two-stroke lead at the halfway point of the $1 million Scandinavian Masters in Barseback, Sweden. British Open champ John Daly’s putting problems continued and he barely made the cut at 74-145.