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Sports
Page 16 Saturday, June 20, 1981 The Michigan Daily
NICKLA US TWO STROKES BACK
Burns takes lead in Open
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.ARDMORE, Pa. (AP) - Defending
champion Jack Nicklaus blew a share
of the lead with a double bogey on the
16th hole and left big George Burns
alone in the top spot yesterday in the,
second round of the 81st United States
Open Golf Championship.,
Burns, highly critical of the spon-
soring U.S. Golf Association, scattered
seven birdies over the tiny greens of the
historic, 6,544-yard Meriod Golf Club
course on the way to a 4-under-par 66.
THAT GAVE the jut-jawed, 31-year-
old Burns a two-round total of 135, five
shots under par on a course for which
he has no great love.
"I don't like the Open courses and I
don't like the guys who run them," he
said before the American national
championship started.
And now he's leading it.
BUT THAT is, at least in part, due to
the dreadful adventures Nicklaus en-
countered on the 16th hole.
Playing well in front of Burns, the
famed Golden Bear had it 5-under-par
for the tournament when he went to the
tee on the 430-yard, par-4 16th.
He got his drive just into the rough
and drew a reasonably good lie.
"UNFORTUNATELY, it was a little
too good," Nicklaus said. It prompted
him to try to pick the ball off the grass
with a 4-iron, and he came up too much
on it, cutting the ball and sending it well
to the right.
"It was smiling happily at me when I
took it out of play," said the man who is
seeking a record fifth U.S. Open title.
He had to chop the next one out of the
rough, eventually reached the putting
surface in five and one-putted from
about six feet for a double bogey.
HE FINISHED up with a 68 that left
him at 137 - but strangely undisturbed.
"That just happened," he said. "I
don't pay any attention to that.
"I played a fairly useful round of golf.
Except for one shot that's about as good
as I can play. Why shouldn't I be happy
with a 68?
"IT'S A GOOD score and I'm in good
position. I have nothing to complain
about."
He was tied for third at 137 with jour-
neyman Tommy Valentine, who also
had a 68.
David Graham, a globe-trotting
Australian and a business associate of
Nicklaus, had a 68 and was alone in
second at 136.
THE GROUP at 138 included former
national amateur champion John Cook,
Australian Greg Norman, Bill Rogers
and Bill Kratzert. Norman, who first
came to American attention with a
strong showing in the Masters :earlier
this year, closed up with a 67. Rogers
had a 68 despite a double bogey on the
final hole. Kratzert had a 69, Cook 70.
Surprise first-round, leader Jim
Thorpe went to a 73 and dropped back
into a group at 139.
"I'd be lying if I said the pressure
didn't bother me," Thorpe said.
HE WAS tied, only four strokes back
with two round to go, with former Open
champion Jerry Pate, Masters title-
holder Tom Watson, Scott Simpson,
Lanny Wadkins, Jack Renner and John
Schroeder.
And Schroeder was there only
through the grace of a controversial
committee decision that reversed the
ruling of an on-course official.
Schroeder, generally considered by
the other touring pros to be one of golf's
slowest players, and Forrest Fezler
were informed by P.J. Boatright,
executive director of the sponsoring
U.S. Golf Association for rules and
competitions, that they had been
assessed two-stroke penalties for slow
play, long a sore subject with the
U.S.G.A.
SCHROEDER, penalized or fined at
least twice on the PGA Tour for slow
play and the subject of on-the-air
television criticism by fellow players
for the same reason, and Boatright
engaged in an arm-waving, finger-
pointing, face-to-face confrontation for
a few minutes before Schroeder ap-
pealed the decision to the four-man
U.S.G.A. Rules Committee, of which
Boatright is a member.
And, after an hour's discussion and
review, Boatright's decision was over-
turned and the penalties rescinded.
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Graham
... holding down 2nd
JACK NICKLAUS, trying for his fifth
U.S. Open title raises his arms as he
sinks a birdie putt on the sixth green
yesterday in the second round of the
Open in Ardmore, Pa. He did not,
however, fair as well at the 16th hole as
he dropped from the lead with a double
bogey. Nicklaus is in third after
finishing with a two-day total of 137.
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