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 -'