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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Sauers Beats Heat To Lead In Texas

Associated Press

Gene Sauers beat the heat and regained his putting stroke to take the first-round lead at the La Cantera Texas Open in San Antonio.

Teeing off in cool shadows just after 8 a.m. Thursday, well before the course was baked to 100 degrees, Sauers had an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey for a course-record-tying 64 and a one-stroke lead over Mike Brisky.

Duffy Waldorf appeared on his way to the course record after six birdies on the front nine helped him get to 8-under with six holes to play. But he made two bogeys and missed three birdie putts inside of 10 feet down the stretch to finish at 66, tied with Paul Goydos for third place.

Waldorf was the only player with an afternoon tee time to make a run at Sauers.

The heat hardened the fairways, allowing drives to carry further and made the 7,001-yard course at La Cantera Golf Club ripe for low scores. But as the day wore on, the conditions also turned the greens into table tops.

Six golfers were tied at 5-under, including former U.S. Open champion Steve Jones and Loren Roberts, winner of last week’s CVS Charity Classic.

Crowd favorite John Daly shot a 75 and was in danger of missing his third cut in his last five starts.

Harvey, Neumann tied for lead

Nancy Harvey has never won an LPGA event, so she might not have known that she was supposed to stick around after shooting a 5-under-par 67 to tie Liselotte Neumann for the first-round lead of the Welch’s Championship in Canton, Mass.

Harvey went off to Reebok headquarters, in nearby Stoughton, to buy a discounted pair of running shoes to celebrate her recovery from four bogeys over the first seven holes.

“We wanted to go over to Reebok and spend some money,” she said when she returned to the course, about 3 hours after a round that included nine birdies and a career-best 30 on the back nine.

While tournament organizers were looking for Harvey, Neumann was tying her with two birdies and an eagle over her final three holes. Playing the back nine first, Neumann made a 25-foot putt on No. 7 to move to 2-under.

Cristie Kerr, Colleen Walker, Dottie Pepper, Val Skinner and Cathy Johnston-Forbes were all one stroke back at the 6,137-yard Blue Hill Country Club course. Clarkston’s Robin Walton shot a 74.

Ballesteros, Faldo named to Hall

Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo, two keys in the rise of Europe to Ryder Cup parity with the United States, were elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame in voting announced Thursday.

Ballesteros was named on 92 percent of the ballots received from a 371-member selection committee and Faldo received 78 percent of the votes. A player must be named on 75 percent of the ballots to be elected.

They were the first two players selected to the Hall of Fame through the International ballot.