Hammond Stays Hot, Leads With 65 : Golf: Florida pro shoots six-under par in the first round of tournament at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

By MAL FLORENCE

Oct. 27, 1989 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — A few weeks ago, Donnie Hammond was 92nd on the money-winning list, so far down that he said he almost forgot there even was a tournament this week called the Nabisco Championships.

Only the top 30 players in the PGA Tour’s money standings are eligible for the event, and Hammond was a late qualifier by winning the Texas Open and finishing second in the Walt Disney World-Oldsmobile tournament.

And the 32-year-old pro from Longwood, Fla., is still surging, shooting a six-under-par 65 Thursday to take the first-round lead at Harbour Town Golf Links.

“On the way to the Texas Open in San Antonio, my caddy said that if I won there and finished second at Disney World, I’d be in the Nabisco,” Hammond said, smiling. “I told him, ‘You better quit drinking.’ ”

Hammond is being pursued by the heavyweights of the tour. Greg Norman and Mark O’Meara each shot a 67; Curtis Strange and Fred Couples each had a 68, and Payne Stewart, the tour’s leading money-winner, came in with a 69, a score matched by Tom Kite.

Hammond is on a hot streak at the propitious time, considering the $450,000 reward for the winner here. He shot rounds of 65, 64, 65 and 64 to win the Texas Open with a 22-under-par 258, the second-lowest total ever on the tour.

Then, after a week off, he had rounds of 72, 65, 65 and 71 to finish one shot behind Tim Simpson at Disney World.

With his 65 Thursday, he has had two 64s and and five 65s in his last 162 holes.

“That’s a hell of a rut to be in, a 65,” Hammond said. “I hope I can stay in it for another two years. I’m playing with a lot of confidence. Even standing on the first tee today, I felt real good about the round.”

Hammond had eight birdies and two bogeys on his round. He said his worst hole was the par-four, 373-yard 16th, where his nine-iron shot was short of the green and his chip was “bad,” leading to a bogey.

However, he birdied the 17th and 18th holes, a par-three and a par-four, respectively, to finish with a flourish and take a two-stroke lead.

The Harbour Town course yielded 96 birdies on a mild, sunny day with minimal but tricky wind.

“The secret here is to drive it on the fairway,” Norman said, “and, if you get on the green, you don’t have a very long putt for a birdie.”

The key is, of course, to get on the greens, which are smaller in contrast with other greens on the tour.

Norman, who won the Heritage tournament on this course in April 1988, was pleased with his round of six birdies and two bogeys.

“The only mistake I made was a three-iron shot at (No.) 18,” he said of his second bogey. “It went 30 yards to the right of the green. I thought about hitting a four-iron.”

O’Meara got three of his five birdies on the back nine, at the 12th, 16th and 18th holes. He had only one bogey.

Strange, who won this tournament last year at Pebble Beach in a playoff with Kite to emerge as the year’s leading money-winner, hasn’t had many good rounds previously at Harbour Town.

“I played very well on the front side,” he said of his 32. “Then, I misjudged the wind a couple of times and got a little careful, too careful.

“The wind isn’t blowing hard, but it swirls through the trees and it’s tricky, especially with the pin placements.”

Strange, Norman and Stewart have said that too much emphasis is placed on the season-ending tournament, with its $2.5-million total purse--almost twice as much as any other on the tour. The money standings can change drastically in just four days.

However, the three are standing up to the pressure, as expected.

“I was playing really good for the first eight holes,” said Stewart, who was dressed in the silver-and-black colors of the Raiders.

“Then, I lost my concentration for four of the next five holes and got four bogeys. I wish I knew what caused it, so I wouldn’t let it happen again.

“My wife said I was focused the first eight holes, then she said it looked like I was dreaming, noticing things all around me.”

However, Stewart recovered after his last bogey, at the par-four, 363-yard 13th hole, to par in, except for a birdie at the 17th hole.

Now it remains to be seen whether Hammond, who is 26th on the money-winning list with $339,741, can stay in his birdie mode for three more rounds.

“I didn’t have any idea that I was going to play that well at the Texas Open,” he said. “Now I’m just trying to go with it and hope it keeps up.”

Golf Notes

Donnie Hammond said he couldn’t put four good rounds together earlier in the year. So he went to Gary McCord for a lesson. “I was taking the club back far to the outside and now I’m just totally the opposite,” he said. “I’m taking it back to the inside. My arms are closer to my body with a fuller shoulder turn. I have more control now.” Hammond won only one other tournament before this year, the 1986 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

Ted Schulz’s mother, Betty Ann, fainted on the course and was taken to Hilton Head Hospital. Her condition was reported as stable Thursday night.