David Frost's record-breaking round led a second day of low scores and low wind in the Heritage Classic on Friday.
Frost had 10 birdies on the way to a Harbour Town-record 10-under 61. His 131 total left him one stroke in front of Jim McGovern and Larry Mize and two ahead of former Heritage winners Greg Norman and Hale Irwin.This time, it was Frost and other morning starters like McGovern, Norman, Irwin and first-round co-leader Bob Estes who battered the toothless layout, still minus its characteristic swirling gusts.
"It helped that I was playing early in the morning, when the winds were OK, the greens were a little softer and freshly cut," Frost said. "Those are the things that help you shoot a low round. It's a lot harder to do it Sunday afternoon teeing off in the last group."
Frost finished two better than the record set by Jack Nicklaus in 1975 and tied by Denis Watson (1984), Jim Hallet (1988), Wayne Levi (1989) and Ray Floyd (1992). Levi accomplished his during the Nabisco Championships held at Harbour Town.
The pace in Thursday's first round was set by Fred Funk, Tom Lehman, Barry Jaeckel and Larry Mize, all of whom took advantage of picturesque morning conditions.
Mize, who made eight birdies for a 65 and a 132 total, was the only one in the top five Friday to tee off in the afternoon.
Russ Cochran shot a second 67 for a 134. Estes, Lehman and Funk were four shots behind at 135. Estes and Funk shot 70 and Lehman 69.
Frost started the round at 1-under, five strokes behind Estes and Funk. A stretch of five birdies in six holes on the front nine made up that difference. He made five more birdies after the turn and needed only 20 putts for the round.
"About the 15th hole, I thought about 59, but there were too many things going on for me to add it up," said Frost, who's lowest round on the PGA Tour was a 60 on the way to winning the 1988 Tucson Open.
Frost said he could've reached that magic number had he not lipped out a birdie try on the first hole and "needing two rolls for a birdie on the 16th," he said.
The South African has had success at Harbour Town before, finishing second to Norman in 1988 and to David Edwards in 1993. Last year, Frost held a three-stroke lead with nine holes remaining before faltering.
McGovern also played bogey-free golf, shooting a 65 for a 132. His fifth birdie of the day, on No. 12, gave him a short-lived lead and he rolled in a 20-footer for birdie on the 18th that put him one behind Frost.
"I didn't really keep up with him, but I knew he was going nuts," McGovern said of Frost. "I thought he had made a couple of eagles the way the numbers kept jumping."
At Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Ray Floyd and Larry Mowry emerged as the halfway leaders Friday when other would-be contenders ran afoul of the back nine in the PGA Seniors Championship.
Jack Nicklaus, 1993 senior player of the year Dave Stockton and Jim Colbert all blew leads over the windswept finishing holes of the PGA National Golf Club.
Floyd also was punished by the back, taking a double bogey from the water on the 15th hole. He finished with a 69 and was tied at 138, 6-under par, with Mowry, who won this title in 1989 and has been fighting a serious allergy problem ever since.
Mowry shot 68 and did the best job of handling the intimidating back. He played it in 35, 1-under par, one of only eight sub-par scores on that side all day.
"This is a golf course," Nicklaus said, "where you better get a good start because it's tough to finish."
His round confirmed that assessment. Nicklaus chipped in for an eagle on the sixth hole, birdied the next two and, at that point, was tied for the lead at 6-under.
But he played the back in 39 and, with another 71, was four off the pace at 142.
At Stockbridge, Ga., Nancy Ramsbottom and Judy Dickinson each posted 5-under-par 65s to share the lead before thunderstorms postponed the finish of the first round of the LPGA Atlanta Women's Championship.
Sixty players in the field of 144 completed play before the action was suspended until 7:45 a.m. Saturday.
"The LPGA regulations give us discretion," said Suzanne Johnson, director of tournament operations. "If half the field has finished, we may cancel it if we choose to. If only 25 percent would have finished, we probably would have canceled."