Tough Green Conquers Mission’s Tough Greens For 2-Shot Lpga Lead

Tammie Green, who came close to winning a couple of the LPGA’s majors championships in 1994, shot a 2-under-par 70 Friday to take the second-round lead in the Nabisco Dinah Shore at Rancho Mirage, Calif.

Green, who finished third in the tournament a year ago, moved to 3-under midway through the first of the women’s majors.

Green’s 141 total through 36 holes at Mission Hills Country Club gave her a two-shot lead over Kelly Robbins and Lauri Merten. Robbins moved into contention with a second-round 67 and Merten had a 69.

Also within striking distance of the lead were Laura Davies and Nancy Lopez. Davies, who won last week’s tournament at Phoenix, shot a 69 that left her three shots off the lead, and Lopez had a 71 that put her in a group four shots behind Green.

In addition to a third-place finish in the Dinah Shore last year, three shots behind winner Donna Andrews and two behind runner-up Davies, Green finished second in the U.S. Women’s Open, one stroke back of Patty Sheehan.

Green owns one major championship title, the 1989 du Maurier Classic, and wants another.

“This one (the Dinah Shore), I felt I had a chance to win last year,” she recalled. “Then in the U.S. Open, I needed a birdie on the last hole to tie. It just wasn’t my year to win it.

Gene Sauers, who has won only twice in a dozen years on the tour, and Corey Pavin shared the halfway lead after another wild, windy day in The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Sauers stumbled home with a double bogey 6 on No. 18 and shot an even-par 72, finishing 36 holes at 5-under 139, while Pavin followed his first-round 66 with a scrambling 73. They were a single stroke better than Bernhard Langer, Davis Love III and Steve Stricker.

Pullman’s Kirk Triplett shot 75 and is at 2-over 146.