THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 26, 1996 TAG: 9607260644
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
DATELINE: HOT SPRINGS, VA. LENGTH: 84 lines
Tournament medalist Peggy Woodard of Virginia Beach and Dot Bolling of Salem moved into the finals of the 29th Virginia Senior Women's Amateur with close victories on the Homestead course Thursday.
Woodard beat 1995 finalist Lorraine Houlahan of Mount Vernon 3 and 2, while Bolling defeated defending champion and tournament medalist Chris Epperly of Virginia Beach 1-up.
Lee Shirley, a 20-year-old from Salem, won both her matches in the 71st annual Virginia Women's Amateur, while four-time champion Jan Mack was forced to withdraw because of a bad back.
Shirley and Angie Balch of Richmond will meet in Friday's championship match.
Mack of Richmond was 3-up after 11 holes in her match with Kendra Patterson of Fort Belvoir over The Homestead's Cascades course when she was forced to withdraw because of severe back spasms.
Shirley, the tournament's qualifying medalists who attends North Carolina on a golf scholarship, beat Sarah Cayson of Reston in the morning round on the 20th hole, draining a 3-foot birdie putt. In the afternoon round, she dispatched Mimi Hoffman of Alexandria 2-up.
Balch beat former champion Sherry Zaleski of Manassas 4 and 3 in the morning match, then needed 21 holes to beat Patterson.
JUNIORS: Virginia Beach's Matt Paulson failed to advance to the match play portion of the U.S. Junior Championships Thursday in Flagstaff, Ariz. Paulson completed the second round - which had been suspended because of lightening Wednesday - with an 82-167. The cut was made at 155.
SENIORS: Englishmen Malcolm Gregson, Neil Coles and Roy Smethurst shot 5-under-par 67s Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Senior British Open in Portrush, Northern Ireland.
The three, playing the links course at the Royal Portrush Golf Club, were one stroke ahead of Tom Wargo of the United States, Tommy Horton of England and Bob Charles of New Zealand.
Charles, the 1963 British Open champion, played Thursday with an upset stomach, but turned in a strong round.
``I felt pretty lousy but not because this is my seventh event in a row,'' said Charles, who played last week in the British Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
``I ate something yesterday and my stomach has been upset. Hopefully, I will feel better. But I probably played better because of it. I slowed my swing down and kept my head down.''
Wargo, who won this event two years ago, reeled off six birdies after 12 holes but then took a double-bogey on the par-4 13th to join the pack. He parred the final five holes.
PGA: Hugh Royer III and John Cook shot 6-under-par 65s Thursday to join Bruce Fleisher for the first-round lead of the CVS Charity Classic in Sutton, Mass.
Royer and Cook each considered giving up the game earlier this year.
``I was playing horribly. . . . I was tired of playing,'' Cook said of the early season slump that sent him to mentor Ken Venturi for a lesson. ``I didn't want to play any more, and he got me fired up again.''
Royer's problems are not so easily solved.
``Right now I feel like I want to sleep,'' he said as he sat slumped in a chair in the interview room at the Pleasant Valley Country Club. ``I've been kind of lethargic and weak-feeling lately.''
The three leaders took advantage of an early-morning dew that softened up the greens at the 7,010-yard, par-71 course.
Of the players who teed off in the afternoon, only Emlyn Aubrey and Ed Fiori were able to get within a stroke of the leaders, tied with Bob Gilder and Chris Perry at 5-under 66.
LPGA: Danielle Ammaccapane shot a 5-under-par 67 Thursday to take a one-shot lead over Penny Hammel in the first round of the LPGA Heartland Classic at Forest Hills Country Club in St. Louis.
Ammaccapane, who hasn't won an LPGA event since 1992, finished with six birdies, including a 15-footer on the seventh hole to take the lead.
Among the six players who shot 69 were Liselotte Neumann, a three-time winner this year and the inaugural Heartland champion in 1994. Defending champion Annika Sorenstam shot 72.
JORDAN RULES: Saying he was ``intimidated'' playing in a foursome that included Hale Irwin, Michael Jordan nonetheless shot a 75 in Thursday's pro-am of the Ameritech Senior Open in Long Grove, Ill.
Jordan said after the round that the U.S. Olympic basketball team needed to loosen up in its quest to win a gold medal in the Summer Olympics at Atlanta.
``They shouldn't worry about what everyone expects from them,'' he said. ``They just need to go out and play their game and things will fall into place.''
Irwin praised Jordan's golf game, calling him a ``real athlete.''
``He understands athletic moves,'' Irwin said. by CNB