Golf Roundup : Four Players Shoot 65, Share One-Stroke Lead

John Mahaffey, J.C. Snead, Jim Thorpe and Steve Pate each shot a six-under-par 65 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the $700,000 Bank of Boston tournament at Sutton, Mass.

Brad Faxon and Don Pooley were at 66 as the touring pros went on a par-breaking spree over the 7,110-yard Pleasant Valley Country Club course.

Of the 156 starters, 67 broke par and 21 others matched it.

Defending champion Mark Calcavecchia, who won the British Open and is tuning up for next week’s Ryder Cup matches in England, shot 67 in the afternoon after light sprinkles had ended and was in a group of 10 that included Bill Kratzert, Rex Caldwell, Blaine McCallister and Lon Hinkle.

Three former champions at Pleasant Valley--Wayne Levi, Mark Lye and Sam Randolph--were among 15 tied at 68.

There were 14 at 69, with 19 more another stroke back.

Tom Watson, at Pleasant Valley for the first time since a mandatory PGA appearance in 1977, was at 74.

Calcavecchia, Watson, Mark O’Meara, Paul Azinger and Chip Beck are using the tournament to hone their games for the Ryder Cup. O’Meara and Azinger each had 70, and Beck shot 73.

Mahaffey, who broke a three-year winless drought at Memphis last month, is the only co-leader with a victory on the tour this year.

Snead, who will be 40 next month, was helped by an eagle-three on the 547-yard fourth hole. He sank a 52-foot putt to go from one stroke over to one stroke under par, then added five birdies without a bogey the rest of the way.

Thorpe, who started on the 10th tee, birdied five of his last six holes for a 31 on his second nine. He had two birdies and one bogey on his first nine.

Pate, who has been in the money in 21 of 26 events this year, moved into a tie for the lead with six birdies on the first 10 holes. However, he managed only pars on the last eight holes.

Shirley Furlong and Chris Johnson each shot six-under-par 66s to share the first-round lead in the LPGA’s Safeco tournament at Kent, Wash.

Danielle Ammaccapane was alone in third at 67 and was followed by three at 68--Cindy Rarick, defending champion Juli Inkster and Sue Ertl. Tied at 69 were Marci Bozarth, Beth Daniel, Allison Finney and Dale Eggeling.

Furlong and Johnson played the back nine first on the 6,222-yard Meridian Valley Country Club course.

Furlong birdied No. 13 with a 25-foot putt, No. 16 with a 10-footer and No. 18 from 12 feet. She added three more birdies on her incoming nine, with an 18-foot putt on No. 3, a 10-footer on No. 5 and an eight-footer on No. 7.

Johnson, a four-time winner on the LPGA Tour, rolled in birdie putts of 12 feet on No. 12 hole and 15 feet on No. 13. She left her six-iron tee shot four feet from the pin on the par-three No. 15, and hit a three-iron second shot to within three feet on No. 16, making birdie on both.

Her only bogey was on No. 18, where she caught a bunker and wound up two-putting from 25 feet.