GOLF : Reid Bounces Back With 65 at Westchester

HARRISON, N.Y. —  Mike Reid, struggling to return from a wrist injury he sustained playing table tennis in 1992, eagled his last hole Thursday to take the lead after the opening round of the Buick Classic.

Reid’s six-under-par 65 put him one stroke ahead of Dillard Pruitt, Steve Brodie, Steve Pate, Bob Estes and Wayne Levi. David Frost was another shot back at 67.

Reid hit a driver off the tee and again from the fairway on his last hole of the day, the 505-yard, par-five ninth at the Westchester Country Club. He then rolled in a 10-foot putt to take the lead.

“It just takes a tremendous amount of luck,” Reid said. “I just happened to drill it (the second shot) into the hill and that took all the fire out of it and it trickled up there to 10 feet from the hole.”

Reid hurt his right wrist in Japan in the fall of 1992 and missed virtually all of 1993, when he underwent surgery to reattach a tendon. This year, he has missed five of 12 cuts and made $53,722.

Tom Kite, Ernie Els and Jay Haas were among seven players at 68. Fred Couples, in his first tournament in three months since injuring his back, shot a 70.