Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 10, 1990 TAG: 9006100182
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As Linkous and his playing partners were preparing to hit from the fifth tee, they were joined by a group that had jumped the fence separating Blue Hills Golf Club from Ole Monterey.
"They knew exactly what they were doing," Linkous said. "They just wanted to play a couple of holes over here [at Blue Hills] before finishing their round."
Later, as Linkous and his group were waiting out a 25-minute rain and lightning delay after nine holes, another foursome cut in front of them.
"Mind you, these guys were not in the tournament," Linkous said.
Then, as Linkous and his father were riding to the 10th tee, their cart was struck by an errant tee shot from the offending party.
"What a round!" said Linkous at the end of the six-hour marathon. "It was an extremely long day with some unusual distractions."
Nonetheless, Linkous was able to keep his head and shoot a 2-over-par 73 for a 36-hole total of 140 in his bid for a fourth championship and third in the past five years.
Today's final round will be held at Hidden Valley, site of Linkous' first Hall of Fame championship in 1981.
Linkous was in much better shape than his club, Hunting Hills, which dropped to third place - 19 strokes behind Roanoke Country Club - in its bid for a third straight team title. Roanoke Country Club was in first place with a six-player total of 876, nine shots better than Blue Hills.
Blue Hills was led by Don Foster, whose 69 gave him the low round of the day and sole possession of second place at 144. Four of the next five places were held by players from Roanoke Country Club, headed by Dan Keffer in third at 145.
Denton Willard, the former Roanoke College basketball star who shot an opening-round 68, moved into a tie for the lead with Linkous after nine holes Saturday but soared to a 7-over-par 43 on the back nine and finished with an 80.
That included an eagle-3 at No. 14, but Willard had only two pars on the back nine and suffered a triple-bogey 8 at No. 18, where he was just right of the green on his second shot.
"If I just par 18, I have a halfway decent score," said Willard, who dumped his third shot in a bunker, left his fourth shot in the bunker and then three-putted. "I had butterflies on the first tee, like I used to have before an ODU game, but I was OK after that."
Willard experienced no recurrence of the back problem that sent him to a therapist before the first round, but he had trouble with his footing and sent a friend for his golf shoes after the 12th hole. Willard had played in a pair of black tennis shoes up to that point.
Six players matched par, including two - Hunter Morrissette of Blue Hills and Jack Gregory of Roanoke - who were out of town Friday and did not play in the first round. Foster was 1 over par through 12 holes, but birdied Nos. 13, 15 and 16 with the cross-handed putting stroke he adopted a month ago.
"I'm almost 52 years old," Foster said, "and when I'd get 2- and 3-footers, something was happening. When you switch [putting strokes], it makes you concentrate. I don't feel the nerves anymore."
This is Foster's best performance in the Hall of Fame in a long and underrated career, but, in Linkous, he faces a player who conceivably could have won the tournament four years in a row. Linkous squandered a three-shot lead in the final round in 1988, then lost in a playoff with Mike Smith last year.
"At Hidden Valley, four shots is not a very large lead at all," Linkous said. "There is the potential for some large numbers and I certainly know by now that you can't take anything for granted."
by CNB