GOLF ROUNDUP : Trevino Likes the Lead, Hates Bogey

Lee Trevino retained the lead with a record-breaking score but acted like a man who had lost the tournament.

“Oh, yeah, I like the lead. I like being in front. I’m a good front-runner. I always want the lead,� Trevino said Friday after a 68 in the second round of the U.S. Senior Open at Paramus, N.J.

With a 135 total, nine under par on the Ridgewood Country Club course and by two strokes the best in U.S. Senior Open history, he was one in front of the field at the tournament halfway point.

And he was fuming. “My chili is hot,� he said. “I’m mad as hell.�

The anger was self-directed. It involved a bogey on the par-5 17th hole.

“There’s no excuse for making bogey on a par-5 hole,� he said. “Never. No excuse.

“I can go out there and par the hole with a wedge. I’ll bet on it. I had a whole set of clubs to play with and I can’t make par. Damn, but I’m still hot about it,� he said an hour after his early finish.

While the lapse was far from fatal, it was infuriating. And it opened the door to a number of challengers. Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player are among them. Arnold Palmer is not.

Jim Dent overcame a double-bogey on the first hole, battled back to a 68 and was one stroke off the lead at 136.

Player, the current PGA Senior champion and a two-time winner of this title, birdied the first seven holes and went on to a 65, the best round of the tournament and 10 better than his 75 in the first round.

He was tied with Nicklaus at 140, five shots off the pace. Nicklaus, winner of two of three previous starts on the senior circuit, improved to a bogey-free 69.

Palmer, 60, struggled to a 80 and, at 154, missed the cut.

Cathy Johnston continued to lead a par-breaking barrage and held a one-stroke lead over Patti Rizzo after two rounds of the du Maurier Classic at Kitchener, Canada.

Johnston, who shot a 65 on Thursday at the Westmount Golf and Country Club, followed with a 70 to finish 36 holes at 135, 11-under.

Rizzo was just one back after a 69 over the 6,415-yard course, hosting the second of the four major tournaments on the LPGA Tour.

Players were coming out of the middle of the pack to hit the leaderboard with eye-opening rounds, including a seven-under 66 by Beth Daniel. Fifty golfers were at even-par 146 or lower.

In fact, Johnston had trouble convincing her mother of Thursday’s score.

“I called my mom and she said I was lying,� Johnston said, laughing. “She couldn’t believe it. It took me about four times trying to convince her before she believed me.�

Bob Eastwood, looking to end a five-year winless drought, found his putting touch in shooting a 64 and took a one-stroke lead in the Greater Hartford Open.

Eastwood one-putted nine greens, including three of the last four, in completing 36 holes at nine-under-par 131.

First-round leader Chris Perry, with a 69, and Steve Jones, who shot 68, are among five tied at 132.

John Cook, who had six consecutive birdies, missed tying Mac O’Grady’s course record of 62 when he bogeyed the 18th hole.