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© St. Petersburg Times, published September 7, 2002
MARKHAM, Ontario -- The 36-hole lead at the Canadian Open belonged to Neal Lancaster and Billy Andrade, two Southern boys thriving in the Great White North.
Only one sounds the part.
Lancaster has charmed the galleries with a twang right out of Mayberry and some entertaining shots, like the drive that caromed off a red hazard stake, struck a few trees, bounced along the cart path and wound up back in the short grass.
"You have to get some good bounces in this game," Lancaster said after 5-under 67 on Friday at Angus Glen.
He'll play in the final group today with Andrade, a Rhode Island native who went to Wake Forest, spends half of the year in Atlanta and knows all about guys like Lancaster.
"He's a good ol' country boy from North Carolina," Andrade said after his 67 that included a smart par save on the 18th hole. "I went to college with guys like him."
They were at 11-under 133, and that's where the similarities end.
Andrade won the Canadian Open four years ago at Glen Abbey, and only later did he realize how special it was to win golf's third-oldest national championship.
"I would love to do it again," he said. "When I get myself in this position, I seem to thrive on it. I like my position."
Lancaster, whose only PGA Tour victory came at the '94 Byron Nelson Classic that was shortened to 36 holes because of rain, is simply trying to enjoy himself and add up the score at the end of the day.
One stroke behind was Grant Waite (70) and the tournament darling, Ian Leggatt, who birdied four of the last five holes and put himself in position to become the first Canadian-born winner of his national championship since Karl Keffer in 1914.
LPGA WILLIAMS CHAMPIONSHIP: Tracy Hanson shot 6-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over U.S. Solheim Cup player Cristie Kerr after the first round at Tulsa, Okla. France's Patricia Meunier-Lebouc, coming off her first LPGA Tour victory Sunday in the State Farm Classic, was two back along with Sweden's Liselotte Neumann, South Korea's Grace Park and Scotland's Catriona Matthew. Annika Sorenstam, making her first start since winning the Compaq Open on Aug. 18 in Sweden for her eighth worldwide victory of the year, opened with 68.
KROGER SENIOR CLASSIC: Andy North, who had shot only six competitive rounds in the 60s this year, found a winning stroke in the first round of Senior PGA play at Maineville, Ohio. North fired 8-under 64 to take a two-shot lead over Bob Gilder and Mike Smith. The 64 tied the course record set by Steve Flesch in this year's U.S. Open sectional qualifying at the Tournament Players Club at River's Bend, Ohio.
EUROPEAN MASTERS: Sweden's Robert Karlsson shot 5-under 66 to take a four-stroke lead after two rounds at Crans-Sur-Sierre, Switzerland. Karlsson opened with three birdies and added birdies at Nos. 14 and 16 to move to 11-under 131, ahead of Scotland's Andrew Coltart and Sweden's Klas Eriksson.
JAPAN PGA MATCH PLAY: New Zealand's David Smail advanced to the third round after a 1-up victory over American Todd Hamilton at Tomakomai. Smail took the lead on the 13th hole at the Nidom Classic Country Club in Hokkaido with a birdie, then held steady over the final five holes to eliminate Hamilton, a veteran of the Japan PGA Tour. Defending champion Dean Wilson of the United States also failed to progress to the quarterfinals after a 1-up defeat to Tomohiro Kondo.
NORTH FLORIDA PGA QUALIFYING: Tom Doozan of Apollo Beach led seven players into the 14th annual PGA Senior CPC scheduled Oct. 17-20 at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie. He shot 69-70 and was joined by Frank Reynolds of Palm Harbor (72-69), James Smith of Belleair (72-71) and Jeff Henderson of Tampa (72-72).