Bradley Puts In Long Day--and Is Top Finisher : However, Oakmont Leader Won’t Be Known Until All Complete Two Rounds

Pat Bradley teed off at 7:15 a.m. Friday, played 30 holes and ended up even-par after 36 holes of the GNA/Glendale Federal LPGA tournament at Oakmont Country Club.

Shelley Hamlin didn’t tee off until 4:40 p.m., played only six holes and is two-under-par after 24 holes.

So who is leading?

To tell the truth, nobody is, as the LPGA continues its effort to catch up with itself after Thursday’s drenching rain halted play in midday.

Bradley is, as they say, the leader in the clubhouse, but half the field has yet to finish 36 holes.

The real leader of the $250,000 tournament will not be known until about noon today when the field has completed two rounds and a cut is made to the low 70 and ties. If all goes well, the survivors will play 18 more holes in the afternoon to get the GNA/Glendale Federal house in order for Sunday’s final 18 holes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever played 30 holes in one day since I came on the tour,” said Bradley, who joined the LPGA in 1974 as the New England Amateur champion. “It was the longest day I ever spent on a golf course. We teed off at 7:15 and finished at 5:45. That’s the survival of the fittest.”

Hamlin, who has been a professional two years longer than Bradley, has never played that many holes, either, but she faces 30 today.

“I don’t know who’s leading, but on this course the more holes you’ve finished, the better off you are because this isn’t a birdie course,” Hamlin said. “You have to fight to keep from making bogeys.”

Hamlin started the day one-under-par after finishing 18 holes Thursday and went two-under when she nearly holed her tee shot on the 150-yard third hole.

“It should have been a hole-in-one,” she said, “but it stopped about a foot away.”

When the first round ended in midday Friday, Amy Alcott had joined Hamlin and rookie Kristi Arrington as the 18-hole leaders at one-under-par 71. On the other side of the ledger, there were 42 who shot 80 or higher.

Alcott, Juli Inkster, Judy Rosenthal and Chris Johnson are at 145, one-over-par, after completing 36 holes.

Farther down the leader board, defending champion Jan Stephenson had a 72-148, Hollis Stacy a 75-148, Muffin Spencer-Devlin a 77-151, Laura Baugh a 81-155.

Laurie Rinker birdied the eighth and ninth holes to pull into a tie, sort of, with Hamlin. Rinker is two under par after 27 holes.

Low rounds Friday, on a sunshiny day, were a pair of 70s by Johnson and Judy Clark Dickinson. Rosenthal and Therese Hession, with 71s, had the day’s only other sub-par rounds on the water-logged 6,256-yard, par-72 course.

Alcott and Inkster, who both played 30 holes, said it wasn’t bad after they got going, but both were bothered by a nearly two hour break between rounds.

“I’d still rather do it the way we did it than having to play in the rain like some of the girls did yesterday,” Inkster said.

Alcott, who calls Oakmont one of the best courses the LPGA plays all year, lost her share of the lead when she made a double bogey on the second hole.

“I picked up some gallery because everyone could identify with the way I played that hole,” Alcott said, laughing. “I put my second shot in a bunker, chunked it out and took three putts from 12 foot. You all know how you do that, don’t you?”