Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994                   TAG: 9408120040
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

COLE LEADS THE FIELD IN CITY-COUNTY GOLF

You see, it's not every day that a golfer of Cole's caliber makes a 9.

In this case, it helped that Cole still had 45 holes to play.

``I guess it's a personal victory of sorts just to get to this position,'' said Cole, who shot a 1-over-par 72 at Countryside and has a one-shot lead over Kathy Dodd going into today's final round at Hunting Hills.

Cole, bidding to add a second Roanoke Valley Women's Golf Association title to her 1985 triumph, had made seven pars and a birdie Tuesday when she came to the par-4 17th hole - her ninth.

After losing her original tee ball, Cole hit a second tee shot into a position from which she could not advance it. When she finally holed out, it was for a quintuple bogey.

``I can remember having a 10 in a tournament at Brandermill [in Richmond],'' Cole, 42, said, ``but I don't think I've ever won a tournament with a quintuple bogey. I'm very pleased that I haven't let it destroy me.''

Cole finished the first round with an 80 and felt confident going to Countryside, her home course. She had 14 pars and was even par for the round until making a bogey at the last hole.

``It did help coming here today,'' said Cole, a two-time women's Hall of Fame champion and a Virginia Women's Amateur finalist in 1992. ``Five back with two rounds is nothing. It can even be one hole, as I know.''

First-day leader Dot Bolling, in her bid for a fourth consecutive City-County championship, bogeyed the last two holes for a 79 but remained two shots behind at 154. Two-time winner Marilyn Bussey was at 156, followed by Judy Knight and Neva Price at 157.

Cole, Dodd, Bussey and 19-year-old Radford University sophomore Jennifer Kellogg helped Countryside to a commanding lead in the Fran McCorkindale team competition. Kellogg, who shot a 74, lives in Blacksburg but is a member of the Countryside women's golf association.

Neither Cole nor anyone else was conceding the individual title.

``Hunting Hills is a tight course that must be played very carefully,'' said Bolling, who is short but accurate. ``A long ball doesn't help you over there ... just watch me hit it in the woods every other hole.''