HOUSTON -- Billy Mayfair, 24, a second-year professional, shot a 5-under-par 66 yesterday and took a one-shot lead over Nick Price after 36 holes of the $2.5 million PGA Nabisco Championships.
Mayfair's two-round total of 7-under-par 135 over the long, par-71 Champions Golf Club was two shots better than scores posted by first-round co-leader Greg Norman, Chip Beck and Jodie Mudd.
After beginning the day three shots behind Norman and Tim Simpson, Mayfair, made up the difference with birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes. A birdie on the par-5 ninth gave him the lead, which he extended to two shots when he made a 10-foot putt for a birdie on the 16th hole.
A relatively short hitter among the game's big bombers, he birdied all of the par-5 holes and romped out in front with a string of three birdies beginning on the fourth.
Norman, leading the money list at $907,977 coming into the last official tournament on the PGA Tour schedule, bogeyed the second, third and fourth. He got two shots back with birdies on the two front-side par-5s, hit it close on the 10th and regained a share of the lead with another birdie-4 on the 13th. However, he drove into the woods, bogeyed the 14th and missed from short range on 16. He stayed close only with a great par after hitting xTC into the water on 17.
Simpson slipped to a 73 that included three consecutive bogeys, later followed by a double bogey from the water on the 12th.
Nichirei International
INA, Japan -- Golfers from Japan's LPGA Tour won three of eight matches and tied three others to take a one-point lead over their American counterparts in the first round of the team competition. Tammie Green and Patti Rizzo shot 64, the day's best score, in beating Junko Yasui and Ikuyo Shiotani by six shots for one of the U.S. victories.
Seniors Gold Rush
RANCHO MURIETA, Calif. -- Bob Charles carded five birdies while shooting a 68 for a one-stroke lead over Dick Hendrickson after the first round of the $400,000 tournament.
Eisenhower Trophy
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand -- Mathias Gronberg shot a 5-under-par 67 to help Sweden take a 14-stroke lead after the second round in the world amateur team championship. Sweden has a two-round total of 427. The United States, which has won the competition nine times, trails Sweden by 22.
MSGA Father-Son
The Hunt Valley pairing of Richard and Justin Klein survived windy, 50-degree weather to outlast a 55-team field in the 53d Maryland State Golf Association championship at Eagle's Nest. The winners shot 6-over-par 40-3878, and edged the Hunt Valley team of George and Tim Dilli, 41-3879.
The winners had four front-nine bogeys to go with a birdie at the third hole when Justin, 16, a Gilman School junior, made a 15-foot putt. A three-putt green at the 11th meant a double-bogey 6 and the only deviation from par on the back nine. Richard carries a 5 handicap, and his son has a 4.