THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407190462
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Short : 44 lines
Only two players were able to better par in the 180-player First Flight Tournament at Elizabeth Manor on Monday.
Dan Ward of Virginia Beach grabbed the midway lead in the 36-hole event with a 2-under 68. Lennie Luke of Portsmouth stood one shot back.
Two other players matched par: John Hall of Portsmouth and Jack Barrett of Virginia Beach.
Twenty-two players qualified for the championship flight and will battle today for the 12 berths in Thursday's Eastern Amateur. Four players were at 1-over 71, six at 72 and eight at 73. Those bracketed at 73 included a father and son, Allan and Jason Drewry.
Ward, 39, a one-time Maury High School golfer, nearly aced the 177-yard, par-3 ninth hole. The ball rolled over the cup and stopped inches behind it. Ward then rolled in one of his three birdies. The others came on a 12-foot putt at the first hole and a tap-in at the tough 14th, which he nearly eagled.
His lone bogey came at the 15th, where his approach sailed over the green.
``I have to give some credit to my caddie,'' said Ward, pointing to his fiancee, Terri Martin. ``She read my putts for me.''
Ward is playing in the First Flight for the first time in 15 years.
Luke, 33, had his finest tournament effort at Elizabeth Manor. He had birdies on the third, fifth, 13th and 18th holes and bogeys at the ninth, 14th and 17th.
He rammed in a chip shot from 5 yards behind the green at No. 3. At the 537-yard 18th, he was on the green in two shots and two-putted.
Luke finished 14th in last year's tournament with a pair of 74s.
Chesapeake's Gary Johnson, the First Flight winner the past two years, scrambled to a 76.
For the first time, players were bracketed into flights based on first-round scores.
All championship flight players will tee off after 2 p.m. by CNB