Levi takes narrow advantage

Wayne Levi's Senior PGA Tour bio says he isn't obsessed with winning major championships. That could change in the very near future.

Levi had an up-and-down round that included six birdies and four bogeys but his 68 Friday gave him a one-stroke lead through two rounds of the Senior PGA Championship.

``I'm out here to win golf tournaments,'' the 50-year-old Levi said. ``I was fairly successful on the regular tour. I won 12 times. There's not many guys currently playing who have won as much as I have. When it comes down to it, winning is what it's all about. You come out here to win.''

Levi, the 1990 PGA Tour player of the year with four wins, has never finished in the top 10 in a major championship. That could all change in the season's second major title for seniors.

Levi got as low as 4-under and as high as even par but birdied 17 to get to 3-under 137.

Competing in the tournament for the first time, Levi's 36-hole total was the highest to lead the tournament through two rounds since 1990.

``There's a lot of tough holes out there,'' Levi said. ``You've got to keep at it. And once in a while you're going to get in that high rough and you have to hack it out and just do the best you can.''

Larry Nelson, Larry Ziegler and Walter Hall also shot 68s and were at 138.

They were the only players under par through 36 holes on the 6,927-yard Firestone Country Club layout.

``It feels more like the U.S. Open,'' said Nelson. He ought to know, since he won the 1983 Open at Oakmont to go with two PGA Championships.

On a day made for scoring -- sunny and calm with the greens still wet from heavy rains on the eve of the tournament -- just 13 of the 140 players broke par.

``Today is a great example of a perfect weather day to play, yet the scores are not low,'' said Hall, a former sales manager of major appliances who quit to hone his game for the senior tour. ``The course will not allow it.''

``I think it's the hardest, fairest golf course I've ever played,'' Ziegler said.

Jim Thorpe, winner of the year's first major, The Countrywide Tradition, led a group of five at even-par 140. He was joined by Florida club pro Jay Overton, Bobby Wadkins, Bob Gilder and Fuzzy Zoeller, like Levi, a senior rookie.

There were plenty of prominent names who ran into trouble in the deep rough and on the deceptive greens. First-round co-leader Tom Kite shot a 73 and was four shots behind Levi, defending champion Tom Watson had a 76 and was at 145 and Jack Nicklaus had a 78.

``I had one of the worst putting days I've ever had,'' said Watson, who had 36 putts while playing in the same group with Nicklaus and Gary Player. ``I got a good tip from Jack and maybe I'll get better tomorrow.''

Nicklaus needed an even-par 35 on his last nine holes to barely make the cut of 149, running his streak to 46 consecutive senior majors without a cut.

``I wasn't worried about the cut,'' Nicklaus said. ``All I was trying to do was play golf. I'm worried about hitting good golf shots, chasing my golf ball and seeing if I can get it in the hole.''

Levi has just one top-five finish in his 10 senior events this year, largely because of erratic putting. He was surprised by the level of play when he joined the tour in February in California.

``What a rude awakening I got out there,'' he said. ``The fairways were fairly narrow, the rough was high. They must have conned me because it was totally different than I thought it would be. The greens were so fast, I had no chance.'' In the second round, he had moments of brilliance and also encountered his share of problems.

He birdied the par-5 2nd with a bunker shot to 3 feet but then bogeyed 4 and 5 when he failed to get up and down from a bunker and the back fringe. He came right back to hit a 4-iron to 6 feet for a birdie at the par-3 7th and added another with an 18-foot birdie putt at No. 9.

After birdies at 12 and 14, he bogeyed the next two. At 17, however, his 6-iron ended up 5 feet from the hole and he made the birdie putt for the lead.

``If you're going to win one, this is probably the one to win,'' he said.

Nelson, who flirted with the opening-round lead before two late bogeys, also birdied Nos. 1 and 2 to get to 4-under but fell back with two bogeys coming down the stretch.

The 62-year-old Ziegler started his round with a bogey and made the turn at 2-over, but regrouped with four birdies on his back nine for a 31. He skipped a Tuesday practice round to watch the first game of the Stanley Cup finals as the guest of longtime friend and Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman. It was the second time he had gone to a game this season.

``I went to two games there and they lost both of them in overtime,'' Ziegler said. ``Scotty said, 'Get out of town.'''

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