Golf Roundup : Amateur Champion Kay Cockerill Is Surprise Leader

Amateur Kay Cockerill eagled the 16th hole with a 35-foot putt and birdied the 17th Thursday to highlight a three-under-par 69 that gave her a one-shot lead in the first round of the $250,000 World Championship of Women’s Golf at Buford, Ga.

The 22-year-old UCLA graduate was one stroke in front of Japan’s Ayako Okamoto and bidding to become the first amateur to win an LPGA event since JoAnne Carner took the Burdine Invitational in Miami in 1969.

“It feels great, but it really hasn’t sunk in yet,” Cockerill said.

“I’ve thought what a great thing it would be to win as an amateur, but there’s still a lot of golf to be played.”

Cockerill is coming off her second consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur championship, which she won last Sunday.

The tournament offers the richest first prize in LPGA history, $81,500, but because of Cockerill’s amateur status, only 11 players in the field are competing for money.

Cockerill is planning to turn professional and will attend the LPGA’s qualifying school next month.

Okamoto was alone in second place, one shot ahead of leading money-winner Betsy King, Cindy Rarick and Laurie Rinker, who each shot a 71.

Laura Davies, the British star who won the U.S. Open this summer, shot a 72 and Jane Geddes and Colleen Walker each had a 73.

Bobby Wadkins, bidding for his first PGA Tour victory, overcame a driving rain to shoot a six-under-par 64 and take a three-shot lead over Larry Mize and Kenny Knox in the first round of the $800,000 World Series of Golf at Akron, Ohio.

Wadkins, winless in 13 years on the tour, qualified for this event by winning the 1986 Dunlop Phoenix tourney in Japan for his fourth international title. He had four straight birdies on the ninth through 12th holes before parring out on the 7,136-yard Firestone Country Club South course.

Mize and Knox were at 67 after roller-coaster rounds. Mike Hulbert, Davis Love III and D.A. Weibring, three of the 17 players competing in the World Series for the first time, were grouped at 68.

Larry Nelson, leading money-winner Paul Azinger and Mac O’Grady had 69s.

T.C. Chen of Taiwan and Tommy Nakajima of Japan withdrew before the round, dropping the field to 43. The event is open to players who have won selected tournaments around the world in the past 12 months.

Joey Sindelar fired a course record-tying, eight-under-par 62 to take the first-round lead by two strokes in the $450,000 Provident tournament at Chattanooga, Tenn.

Sindelar missed only two greens and had no bogeys as he shot matching 31s on the front and back nines at the 6,641-yard, par-70 Valleybrook course.

Sharing second place with 64s were Morris Hatalsky, Bill Sander and Tim Simpson.

Sweden’s Mats Lanner shot a nine-under-par 62 to set a course record and take a two-stroke lead in the opening round of the $71,000 German Open at Frankfurt.

Tied for second place were England’s Denis Durnian and Spain’s Antonio Garrido with 64s. Spain’s Severiano Ballesteros was at 66, while defending champion Bernhard Langer had a 68.