THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407100176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
The third round of the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic Saturday offered a blast from the past, a look into the future and a present from Bob Lohr to everyone who'd chased him all week.
Lohr, who'd held at least a share of the lead through the tournament's first 53 holes, pull-hooked his drive at the 18th tee into Lake Double Bogey and there was a new name atop the leaderboard.
Or, for argument's sake, an old name.
Mark McCumber, who won here in 1987, was the primary benefactor of the first ``6'' to taint a Lohr scorecard this week.
McCumber, following a third-round 6-under-par 65 at Kingsmill, holds the lead at 12-under 201 heading into the final round.
Lohr, who on Thursday shot a course-record 61 and followed it with rounds of 68 Friday and 73 Saturday, is at 11-under 202.
And Justin Leonard, playing in only his third event as a professional, is at 10-under 203.
Leonard and Glen Day (72-204) tee off at 12:11, followed by McCumber and Lohr at 12:20.
Leonard, who shot 67 Saturday,
had a hard time giving reporters the ``Gee, I'm just happy to be here'' approach. Having won the NCAA Championships only a month ago, he is a confident young man of 22.
Not only did he win the NCAA individual title with a record 17-under total which included a record 10-under 62 in the final round, he did it on a Pete Dye-designed course, Stonebridge C.C. in McKinney, Texas.
Kingsmill Golf Club's River Course also is a Pete Dye creation.
Asked about the prospects of winning here today, Leonard said, ``After the NCAAs, I don't think I could surprise myself because I surprised myself so much there. I have the confidence to shoot a couple of low scores.''
Leonard, nonetheless, is cognizant of his stature on the PGA Tour and when McCumber entered the interview room, Leonard cut his remarks short, saying, ``Mark's sitting back there and I'm sure you guys would like to talk to him.''
McCumber's seven birdies, however, took a back seat to his explanation of his par at the fourth hole.
Playing with Ronnie Black, McCumber hit his approach shot on the front fringe of the green. Black had to chip over McCumber's ball and asked that McCumber mark it.
``It's an unusual request and when you mark the ball off the green you can't clean it and you have to put it back down as you found it,'' McCumber said. ``So I was very careful to pick it up without knocking the mud off. And then I asked myself, `Did I mark it?' ''
For the first time in his 42 years, he hadn't. And although he swears he replaced the ball in its exact spot, he incurred a one-stroke penalty.
``I was like a teenager getting a speeding ticket,'' McCumber said. ``I wanted to say, `But Officer.' ''
McCumber took the penalty, which turned the 16-foot birdie putt into a par putt. He sank it, keeping his momentum rolling, and when he drained a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th, he'd pulled even with Lohr.
McCumber, however, momentarily gave the lead back to Lohr as he made bogey-5 at the finishing hole, hitting his drive into high grass to the right of the fairway, slashing it out, chipping up and missing a six-foot putt for par.
But Lohr treated the lead like a hot potato.
``I hooked it, I pulled it, it was a pull-hook straight off the club,'' Lohr said of his final drive of the day. ``There was never a doubt in my mind that it was in the water. The gallery had a doubt. And (playing partner) Glen Day had a doubt. But I knew it was in from the moment I looked up.''
Lohr took a penalty drop short of the lake, hit a 3-iron to the fairway, 6-iron to the green and two-putted for double-bogey.
``I can still correct it,'' Lohr said of his blunder.
Prior to that, Lohr had played an uneventful round marked by a bogey at the par-4 12th and a birdie at the par-4 14th.
McCumber, meanwhile, is hoping that his father's words of last year have some kind of mystic powers.
``My dad wrote me a letter before last year's Anheuser-Busch and reminded me that I won at Doral in my rookie year in '79, then won it again six years later, I won the Western Open in 1983 and again in '89 six years later,'' McCumber said.
``He reminded me that I'd won the Anheuser-Busch in '87 and that it was '93.
``I played in the last group on Sunday last year and really thought I might win and it worked against me.
``Then again, maybe my dad's thinking was a year off.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Glen Day blasts out of a sand trap on his way to a 72 on Saturday.
Day is in fourth place, 9 under par after three rounds.
Photo
PAUL AIKEN/Staff
Mark McCumber slashes out of rough off the 18th fairway. Even with
the resulting bogey, the 42-year-old shot a 65 for the lead.
by CNB