DATE: Friday, July 11, 1997                 TAG: 9707110833

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JIM DUCIBELLA, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH                        LENGTH:   78 lines

CLEMSON PLAYER LEADS EASTERN MAXON'S 7-UNDER 63 WAS ONE SHOT OFF THE TOURNAMENT RECORD.

Say this for young Joey Maxon: He knows how to grab a spotlight.

Maxon, a fifth-year senior at Clemson University, took the first-round lead at the Eastern Amateur by firing a seven-under-par 63 Thursday at Elizabeth Manor. That's just one stroke off the tournament record of 62 set by Phillip McCormick in 1985 - and seven shots better than his previous-best round here.

That gives him an early two-stroke lead over two-time Eastern Amateur, three-time State Amateur champion Tom McKnight. It's four shots better than Alabama's Brian Wright, five shots ahead of Chesapeake's Curtis Deal and Lehigh University's Henry D'Alberto.

Maxon went off the first tee Thursday at 12:39 p.m., one group after the Eastern's Big Three - State Amateur champ John Rollins, McKnight and Deal. He wasted no time rising to the top, making birdies on the opening four holes with nifty short-iron play.

Maxon hit either sand wedge or pitching wedge to within 5 feet of the cup on holes 1 through 3. On the 429-yard par-4 fourth, his 7-iron approach came to rest 2 feet from the hole.

``I've never driven the ball that well here before,'' said Maxon, who is competing here for the third straight summer. ``But I knew if I put it in the fairways and on the greens, I could play this course well.''

Maxon also had the last ingredient for success Thursday - a hot putter. Unofficially, he needed just 14 strokes on the front side, 15 on the back.

``I knew I was playing well, but my short game surprised me a little,'' Maxon said. ``I'd get it on the greens and even my long putts had a chance to go in. And I even had a couple lip out.''

Maxon is in the midst of a potentially magical summer. Two weeks ago, he won his home-state amateur in Delaware. It's only one round, but McCormick rode his 62 to a championship.

``I was All-ACC and All-American at Clemson my junior year; nothing last year,'' Maxon said. ``And that's no one's fault but my own. I had a lousy season.''

McKnight, who won the Eastern in '95 and lost in a playoff to Jason Buha last summer, birdied holes 2 and 3 with a pitching wedge to 12 feet on No. 2 and a 30-footer after a sand wedge out of a fairway divot one hole later.

Later, he rolled in birdie putts of 15 and 12 feet on Nos. 10 and 13, then canned a 40-footer on the par-4 14th and a 10-footer on the par-4 17th. Despite that, McKnight said his putting could have been better.

``I missed a few makable putts,'' the Galax, Va., resident said. ``You can't make everything, I know, but I guess I played pretty well considering I had to work hard to get some putts to go.''

McKnight is hard in the running for a spot on the United States Walker Cup team that faces a team from Great Britain and Ireland in Scarsdale, N.Y., Aug. 9 and 10. There are two slots left for amateur golf's equivalent of the Ryder Cup. McKnight, who has never made it before, should hear next week.

Players are selected by the USGA on the basis of their amateur playing record the last two years. A strong showing in the Eastern Amateur certainly wouldn't hurt.

``I have no idea where I stand in that right now,'' McKnight said. ``I've played pretty well the last couple of years and haven't made it. But there are several guys out there who feel they should have been picked, and they probably have legitimate arguments.

``There have been years I felt I was worthy of being considered, and perhaps I was. But this is my best chance of making it. And there's nothing more any amateur player could want than to play on the Walker Cup.''

McKnight skipped last week's State Amateur to play in the Rice Planters Tournament in Charleston, S.C. He finished fifth, nine under par, to keep his hopes very much alive.

``I'm anxious for the selection to be over,'' he said. ``It's all anyone's talked to me about for weeks.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

A good showing this week could help Tom McKnight's chances of making

the U.S. Walker Cup team.

Photo

LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Ben Taylor of Jacksonville, Fla., has to shoot from under a tree on

the 17th hole Thursday at Elizabeth Manor in Portsmouth.