Kingsport Times-News from Kingsport, Tennessee • 21

Insidws I Devlin Rogers atop US Open Sports Analysis Toughman King in running By BILL LYON Knight-Ridder Service PEBBLE BEACH Calif The wind blew here yesterday like giving Robert Red-ford extra dimples Or an oil shiek one more well Or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar another foot in height Wind at Pebble Beach is pure brutal overkill For all of its postcard seductiveness this seaside layout is fiendish enough on a calm day So in the first round of the US Open the wind came slashing in off the Pacific and blew most of big names out to sea leaving us with a blast from the past (Bruce Devlin) and a familiar figure from a year ago (Bill Rogers) alone at the top Each is at two-under-par 70 Between them they weigh as much as Craig hips Rogers who won the British Open the World Series of Golf two other tournaments and $315000 in 1981 has been among the missing ever since But he surfaced yesterday and shot 34-36 Devlin who has been swinging an NBC-TV microphone instead of a putter for most of the last 10 years shot 36-34 They were early starters and finished before the wind picked when the course was merely awesome instead of unplayable The co-leaders exactly run off and hide however This Open is typically wide-open There are five players a stroke behind at 71 and nine more at evert-par 72 The listing at 73 is longer than some municipal telephone directories And easier to tell you who shdot 74 than who did One who did was Jack Nick-laus (35-39) He was one of defending champion David picks to win The other was Jerry Pate who shot 79 Graham should have picked himself: He beat Pate by six strokes Scores of other recent Open champions were Hubert Green 78 Hale Irwin 76 Lee Trevino 78 Lou Graham 75 Andy North 72 And among the favorites for this year: Tom Kite 73 Raymond Floyd 78 Tom Watson 72 Craig Stadler 76 And among the golden oldies: Gary Player 78 (three shots better than his 20-year-old son Wayne) Arnold Palmer 81 Bob Smith who probably picked by anyone except possibly Mrs Bob Smith led the charge to the rear with a 91 Jim Simons who presumably knows how to play this course since he won the Bing Crosby here in February shot 81 So did Seve Ballesteros former Masters and British Open champion As for the co-leaders they were more surprised than anyone else to find themselves in that position Each had played in last Danny Thomas-Memphis Classic and each had failed to make the cut So much for momentum had fully expected to come back this year like said Rogers intending to pick right up where I had left off But it hasn't Rogers dead-heated with Kite for Player-of-the-Year honors after his prestigious victories and a second-place finish in the Open at Merion This year he is winless and 44th on the money list just been able to get it Rogers said week if driving well then not putting and vice-versa always something been pressing a little and I scrambled He birdied three of the first six holes bogeyed Nos 7 and 8 birdied No 9 and played the back side in all pars Devlin started fast by eagling the 2d hole His second shot on the 506-yarder a three-wood spun out of the cup or he would have had a double eagle Devlin will be 45 in October and it has been 10 years since he won a tournament won two of them in 1972 and then pretty much quit the Tour because I was tired of the he said I sort of played from memory It real fun out there but in the good old days I was considered a pretty fair wind Devlin was a journeyman plumber from Australia when he came to the US and began playing in the mid-1960s For most of the last decade he has been a roving reporter and color commentator on TV up BILL RODGERS US Open co-leader No 1 choice is power pitcher Mets profile: Dwight Gooden I 152 earned run average His losses were 2-1 1-0 3-2 and 2-0 He struck out 17 of 21 in a 3-0 win over Chamberlain High whiffed another 16 as Hillsborough beat Chamberlain again (54) and fanned 16 in a 2-0 win over Brandon Gooden also hit a two-run homer against Brandon All-stater Gooden batted 380 with seven homers as a senior and 364 with three homers as a junior He played forward on the basketball team and was a defensive back with 103 dash speed in football As a junior he went 7-0 and led the baseball team to a 24-3 record He threw two no-hitters and three one-hitters going to try just as hard as I he said make it to New York by the time 20 or 21 The day that I signed I stopped pulling for Cincinnati and became a Mets fan best game ever was when I was 12 Pitching for the Reds in the Belmont Heights League I threw a perfect game struck out 16 of 18 and hit two homers to drive in five runs as we won Dwight Gooden is a good one chian League has an educational clause in his contract just in case like to earn a business he said "but just wait and see how things The day Dwight youngest of Dan and Ella six children signed his sister Betty took the ballplayer and his girlfriend to a Red Lobster to celebrate crazy about said Dwight we ran up a big The 17-year-old Gooden is looking forward to trying out the restaurants of the Appy League region ribs steaks and pizza be checking the Gooden averaged 14 strikeouts and two walks a game at (Class 4-A) Hillsborough High School got confidence in my fast he said mind challenging the batters with He also throws a curve slider and change-up record was 16-8 this year and Gooden was pretty much on his own He won 7 of 11 games not an eye-opening record But he struck out 135 batters in 74 innings pitched four one-hitters and posted a By BILL LANE Times-News Sports Editor Scouts came in droves to admire Dwight Eugene Gooden's 3006 rifle arm They aimed radar guns at his fast ball: 90 miles per hour They asked if he had a preference between pitching or playing the outfield They wanted to be sure he accept a Florida State scholarship Gooden a 6-3 185-pounder practically grew up on a baseball field and playing for a major league team has been his goal since little league But talked it over with his family and decided if he get drafted in the first or second round he would choose college On June 7 the first day of the draft he visited the newsroom of the Tampa Tribune to watch for his name to appear on the video display terminal At about 3 pm the wire service came with it York Mets fifth pick first round Dwight Gooden RHP Tampa going to the newspaper office been on the telephone with my buddy (former teammate Floyd Youmans) in By LARRY DORMAN Knight-Ridder Service PEBBLE BEACH Calif Jim King wears the marks of toughness like a crown His weatherbeaten face carries the scars of a brush with a tree when he was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne and his deep set eyes tell the story of a very hard man produced by a hard life And now this hardbitten assistant pro at Fontainebleau Country Club is one stroke behind the leaders at the 82nd US Open This former Golden Gloves boxer the tough guy who was suspended by the PGA tour for six months in 1972 and six more in 1973 for misconduct punched Pebble Beach in the mouth for a one-under-par 71 takes a helluva man to handle this King said yesterday after his stunning five-birdie four-bogey round know a Right now he is a man trying to change an image At 47 he is the third oldest player in the field behind Arnold Palmer and Gene Littler He also probably is the toughest But King wants people to forget about the time in 1973 when he picked up PGA tour official Pete Sesso by the throat and walked five steps with him It occurred at the USI Classic in Sutton Mass on the 16th green right after King had double-bogeyed the hole He finished his round came in with a 36-hole total of 144 but was thrown out of the tournament suspended for sik' months and fined $1000 Sesso had been following group timing them for slow play asked Sesso to quit timing us around the King said was holding the stopwatch up right in my line just say I straightened his The incident has followed King for the past nine years and when he was disqualified in the 1978 Open sectional qualifier for hitting a second drive when his first ball was not out of bounds it came up again It also came up last year when King was involved in an altercation during local qualifying at Creek in North Palm Beach Fla want all that behind King said treat every nice person nice I try to be a gentleman with everybody unless totally obnoxious at the stage in my life where Pm applying for certain jobs and I want the members (of clubs) to be afraid I'm going to get mad at them and shove them against the That King can play golf has never been questioned He is a two-time Florida Open winner Perhaps it was controversy that prevented him from being successful on the tour after 1973 But right at the moment controversy is the farthest thing from his mind He is thinking in terms of winning the US Open Who can blame him From the north side of Chicago where he grew up fighting to survive to the leader board at the US Open is a long hard climb a he said the toughest thing is when you're not in the position to win consistently A guy like me not out here every week it makes it a lot tougher a good fighter never thinks ahead more than one Jim King has proven through the years that if anything he is a good fighter play good you play bad I think going he said if I should happen to keep hitting it good win the Open still going to have the same friends go to the same places It cfnge Strawberry the expensive top draft choice in 1980 is just nq telling how good Dwight might said Joe Mcllvaine director of Metis scouting has a lean tall body with great arm extension He has excellent rotation on his curve He has everything it takes to develop into a real power Gooden assigned to play for Kingsport in the rookie Appala California talked about the possibility of landing on the same team but agreed the odds would be against it said Gooden called back and told him the Mets had picked us 1-2 He believe The New York office has told him to avoid talking about money He got an estimated $80000 for signing according to one source Ironically he is the spitting image of outfielder Darryl Lewis begins record quest today at Knoxville meet pect to draw crowds away from the nearby Fair when Lewis is scheduled to compete Qualifying for the long jump begins at 10 am EDT today with the trials and finals set for Saturday night at 8 pm The only finals today will be in the triple jump 20K walk and 5K walk for men and 10K run for women There will be a full schedule of qualifying beginning at 9:30 am finals include discus high jump 100 hurdles 100 dash and 4x400 relay as well as the shot javelin long jump 110 high hurdles 100 dash and 5000 run The other finals will be Sunday The final session Sunday will begin at 1 pm and conclude at 9:30 pm A pass for all three sessions is $16 for a reserved seat and $12 for general admission A special pass is $9 Single-day tickets will be $5 reserved and $4 general admission today $6 reserved and $5 general admission tomorrow and $8 reserved and $6 general admission Sunday retirement leaves Greg Foster as the overwhelming favorite in the 110-meter hurdles followed by a close battle between Clark Sam Turner Milan Stewart To-nie Campbeland Willie Gaul declaring his intention to go all-out for world records in the long jump and 100 meters If he does it would be remarkable as both marks have stood for 14 years since the high-altitude Mexico City Olympics Lewis will face a strong challenge from Tennessee alumnus Jeff Phillips in the 100 as well as Stanley Floyd if he is recovered from a pulled hamstring suffered last Saturday All have been closing in on Jim record of 995 set a world record in the 100 the ideal conditions are warm weather and good Lewis says But he adds difficult to set records in championship meets because you are more concerned about Even more eagerly anticipated is attempt to break Bob incredible long jump of 29 feet 2 inches He come closer than 28-3 legally but he demonstrated his potential by leaping over 28-10 on a jump that was barely foul underemphasized my sprinting to get ready for the long Lewis said "I can jump 29 feet I predict when it will happen but it could go at any The event is getting so much local publiqjty that officials ex KNOXVILLE Tenn (UPI) Berths on the American national team are at stake and assaults on several records are planned during the three-day US Outdoor Track and Field Championships which begin today with five final events and trials for most others The event is also the culmination of the outdoor Grand Prix series sponsored by Mobil which awards $2500 to the athletic clubs of winners of 15 events Despite the absence of some of the stars of past years hurdler Renaldo Nehemiah left to join the San Francisco 49ers and sprinter Evelyn Ashford a according to her coach this will be one of the most competitive meets in recent memory The top two American finishers in most events qualify for the national team which has three major meets this summer Expected temperatures in the mid-80s and high humidity will hamper attempts at exceptionally fast times in the distance events and a newly resurfaced straightaway which tends to get spongy in the heat at the University of Tom Black Track will test the abilities However this deterred the sensational Carl Lewis from to United Press International University of Houston sensation Carl Lewis has announced his assault on Bob long jump record Lewis who headlines one of the most Impressive track meets ever in East Tennessee will he in action today at the US Outdoor track ad field championships in Knoxville.