Jim Taylor and Tom McKnight, paired together for the first time, shot a second-round, 5-under-par 66 for a 36-hole total of 130, and opened a five-stroke lead on the field in the eighth annual Chesapeake Cup at Caves Valley Golf Club yesterday.

Taylor, from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and McKnight, from Galax, Va., had six birdies and their only bogey of the two days, at the 201-yard fourth hole, where both missed the green and failed to convert.

Tim Jackson, from Germantown, Tenn., and Danny Green, from Memphis, used the day's low round, a 65, to vault into a tie for second at 135 with Doug Ballenger, Evans, Ga., and Steve Smyers, Mulberry, Fla. (68); and defenders Duke Delcher, Hilton Head, S.C., and Bill Hadden, North Haven, Conn. (69).

Taylor had expected to play with Delcher here last year, but had to cancel because of back surgery. "I'm fine, but where I was usually able to play well through a tournament, since the surgery I am nowhere near that consistent," he said.

O. Gordon Brewer, Huntingdon Valley, Pa., and Ray Newsome, Winston-Salem, N.C., took a three-stroke lead in the Senior division.

Pub Date: 6/07/98