Golf Roundup : Randolph Gets 2nd Shot, but Not Against Verplank

Medalist Sam Randolph, denied a chance to play the man who beat him for the title last year, used a hot putter to score a 4-and-3 victory over Canadian Jack Kay Jr. in the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur golf championship Saturday at Montclair, N.J.

Randolph, of Santa Barbara, will get his second shot at the national amateur crown today in a 36-hole final against Peter Persons of Macon, Ga.

Persons defeated fellow University of Georgia golfer Chip Drury of Brunswick, Ga., 3 and 1, in the other semifinal at the Montclair Golf Club.

But the big news Saturday was the completion of a suspended quarterfinal match that ended Scott Verplank’s hopes of winning a second straight title.

The match between Verplank and Kay was suspended Friday because of darkness, with the golfers even after 17 holes. When play resumed Saturday, Verplank bogeyed the 18th hole, and Kay rolled in a two-foot par-saver to win the match.

“It’s kind of hard to start on the 18th tee, but we both had to do it,” said Verplank, who will begin his senior year at Oklahoma State this week. “I guess he was just a little more ready to play than I was.”

It also ruined the expected rematch between Verplank, the first amateur in three decades to win a PGA Tour tournament, and Randolph, the Walker Cup team member from USC.

Randolph, who tied a record in qualifying at 134, took a two-hole lead after four holes as Kay bogeyed both the third and four holes.

Kay, the most valuable player on Furman University’s golf team last season, twice moved within one hole on the front nine, but that was as close as he would get.

Randolph sank a 20-footer at No. 11 to remain 1 up after going into the trap. He went 2 up at No. 12 when Kay bogeyed and 3 up at No. 13, sinking an eight-foot birdie putt. He closed out the match by parring the 15th.

Veteran Bruce Lietzke birdied the 18th hole for a three-under-par 68 to tie Joey Sindelar for the lead in the $300,000 B.C. Open after three rounds at Endicott, N.Y.

Sindelar, 27, lost a three-shot edge on the last three holes of the round. The second-year touring pro from nearby Horseheads, N.Y., shot a 69 but bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17 to back into the tie at 206, seven under par on the 6,966-yard En Joie Golf Club course.

Betsy King and Chris Johnson each shot seven-under-par 65s to share the lead after the first round of the $185,000 LPGA Rail Charity tournament at Springfield, Ill.

King put only five of her tee shots in the fairway, and Johnson only six as both players birdied seven holes. Six of Johnson’s seven birdie putts were from six feet or less, while King needed only 25 putts to complete her round.

Ben Smith, Ken Still and Howie Johnson shot four four-under-par 67s to take the first-round lead in a rain-shortened $200,000 seniors tournament at Lexington, Ky.

One shot back were Gene Littler, Charles Owens and Walt Zembriski in the event shortened to 36 holes by a rainout of Friday’s scheduled first round.

West Germany’s Bernhard Langer sank a five-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to move into a tie for the lead with Britain’s Gordon Brand Jr. at 202 after three rounds of the $280,000 European Open at Sunningdale, England.

Langer overcame wind and rain to shoot six birdies in a six-under-par 64 round. Brand shot a 66.