Page 16-Saturday, June 30, 1979-The Michigan Daily
BACK NINE BIRDIES BREAK SLUMP
ustin shines in 'Rainy Stroh's'
By BOB EMORY
Special to The Daily
DEARBORN - The longest rounds of
golf were played yesterday in the
second round of the $150,000 Lady
Strohs Open at Dearborn Country Club.
Thanks to three rain delays totalling
three hours, it took most of the field
about seven hours to complete 18 holes.
There was pretty much a steady driz-
zle all day, but on a few occasions it
came down so hard that the blaring
siren signalling the stoppage of play
saw a full day's work. Rain dished out
casual water all over the course,
making for a sloppy day of golf, and
making shots stop dead in their tracks
upon hitting the ground.
When the rain finally ceased and the
last putts had been sunk with darkness
closing in, it was first-round co-leader
Debbie Austin in first place all by her
lonesome with a two-day total of 140,
four-under par on the tight but beautiful
6,411-yard Dearborn course.
"This is a tough course and it was
playing even tougher today, so under
par was fine with me," said Austin. "I
thought before the tournament started
that even par for four rounds would be
pretty good."
Austin, who holds a two-stroke lead
over Vicki Fergon, last won on the tour
in the 1978 American Cancer Society
Classic, but since then, she has been in
somewhat of a slump. Her best finish
this year was a tie for 11th in the
Florida Lady Citrus, and she has
missed the cut in four of 16 tournaments
she's entered.
"My putting has been holding me
back recently," she explained, "but
now I'm starting to putt well again. I'm
as relaxed as I've been on the course in
six or seven weeks and I'm really ex-
cited about the way I'm playing."
Austin snaked in birdie puttsof 12,
four, and two feet on the back nine for a
34. She had bogeyed the 14th hole when
her four-foot putt lipped out. Austin
played the front nine in one over for a
round of one-under 71, a score which
was only bettered by Fergon (69), Sally
Little (70), and Kathy Martin (70).
Fergon teed off late in the afternoon
and then managed six birdies and three
bogeys to record the best round of the
rain-soaked day. "After it stopped
raining on the back nine, I started
playing real well," said Fergon, who is
considered one of the strongest hitters
on the tour. "I figured out something in
my swing and started hitting the ball
real close to the pin, and I made a few
putts."
Defending champion Sandra Post,
Beth Daniel, Little, and tour veteran
Judy Rankin are jammed together
three shots back at 143. Barbara
Barrow, who was tied for the first round
lead with a 69, fell victim to the rain and
an inexperienced caddy; she shot a
four-over 76 for a 145 total.
Her caddy was a 14-year-old local boy
who just couldn't handle the rain, an
umbrella, and the heavy bag of a
professional. At one point, coming down
to the 17th tee, he slipped and fell, get-
ting Barrow and her quite wet. Barrow
expressed regret at having to fire him,
but she said it was just too difficult to
concentrate,
Drillock misses cut,
but tourney was fun
DEARBORN-Well, she didn't make the smooth-swinging Michigan
the 36-hole cut, but for Linda Drillock, sophomore-to-be, playing in the Lady
Strohs Open II was just great anyway.
JONES SINGLES IN WINNING RUNS
Late Tiger rally tops Tribe, 8-6
By MARK BOROWSKI IT LOOKED as though the Indians thought to be the seventh Clevelan
special to the Daily would continue their scoring in the four- ten'
DETROIT-After 34-minute rain th when they had runners on second and Unfortunately for Bonds, the kee
delay and a five-run deficit the Tigers third and only one out. Mike Hargrove eyes of Tiger manager Sparky Ande
battled back to edge the Cleveland In- cracked an opposite-field line.drive to son spotted Bonds tagging up too ear
dians 8-6 in rain-drenched Tiger Jerry Morales in right. Bobby Bonds on the play. Detroit appealed the ca
Stadium last night. trotted home from third with what was ndn s
The victory shot jumped off the bat of
Lynn Jones, who pushed Detroit into
the lead for good with a bases-loaded
single in the seventh inning.
IT WAS HIS fourth RBI in the trium-
ph. The Indian pitchers set the stage for
Jones by hitting one batter and walking
two others to fill the bases.
Milt Wilcox, who relieved starter r
Steve Baker in the third, picked up his
sixth victory of the season. His perfor-
mance was shaky at the start, but he
smoothed things out to hold the Tribe
scoreless in the last six innings.
Indian pitcher David Cruz was
shelled for four runs in the fifth and six-
th innings, as the Tigers came back to
knot the score at 6-6. Prior to Jones' six-
th-inning homer, the Tigers had
chalked up three runs in the fifth on a'
walk and three base hits.
THE INDIANS broke open the score-
less deadlock in the second inning when
Baker gave up thr-e consecutive
singles to Jim Norris, Ron Hassey, and
tom Veryzer. Rick Manning then drew
a walk to load the bases.
But the Tigers were able to get out of
the jam when Duane Kuiper hit a
blazing line shot to shortstop Alan
Trammell, who flipped to Mark Wagner
to double up Veryzer at second.
The Bengals battled back to tie the
score with a run in their half of the
second with a two-out solo homerun by
John Wockenfuss that reached the up-
per deck in left field.
Cleveland took advantage of the
Tiger free passes in the fourth inning
and scored five runs on only two base AP Photo
hits. Baker loaded the bases by giving B
up two walks and hitting a batter. Milt
Wilcox then came in and failed to tame The victory-starved Philadelphia Phillies aren't pushing across many runs thes
the Tribe stampede. He yielded a days, and the few they get seem to come tough. Greg Luzinski slid in ahead o
sacrifice fly, a single, and a double Lou Brock's throw from leftfield during the sixth inning of last night's Phillies
before retiring the side. -St. Louis Cardinals game.
ill
in
"I really had a good time and I lear-
ned an awful lot," said Drillock, who
won the amateur qualifying for this
year's Stroh's with a 75 three weeks ago
on the same Dearborn Country Club
course. "I was a little disappointed with
d the way I played; I thought I could have
played better but I'm not upset. Just
being able to play in the tournament
- was good enough for me."
y Drillock shot rounds of 80-82 over the
first two days and missed the halfway
- cutoff point by eight shots. She said the
course played a bit longer than in the
qualifying round, and that she just
couldn't get her woods working the way
she wanted to.
"I was cutting my woods a bit and
losing a little distance," she said. "I
was only missing them by a fraction,
but when you do that you don't play
well."
In addition to the thrill of par-
ticipating in her first professional golf
tournament, there was another
refreshing surprise in store for Linda.
"I was really impressed with how
friendly the pros were," she said.
"There seems to be a certain
comaraderie between all the players
and that was really nice to see. I don't
think I went by one of them without
them saying, 'Hi,' or talking to me a lit-
tle."
Drillock next takes to the competitive
links when she plays in the upcoming
Michigan Women's Amateur Cham-
pionship in mid-July. And with a year of
college golf and one-half of a pro tour-
nament behind her, she should be ready
to makea strong showing.
Who knows, maybe some day it will
be her turn to be nice to all the
amateurs.
-Bob Emory
SCORES
American League
SaltimoreS-4, Toronto1-0
Seattle3. Milwaukee 2
Minnesota 5, chicago2
National League
Pittsburgh6 sMontreal3
Philadelphia8, St. Louis 7
e
f
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