LPGA Notebook : Spectators Seeing Red, but Numbers Lie : Hole Recorder Watching Birdies but Mizrahie Only Shooting Par

If you were one of the 5,500 fans who showed up at Mesa Verde Country Club Friday to watch the second round of the Uniden LPGA Invitational, you had to be struck by two things: fog and Los Angeles resident Barbra Mizrahie’s numbers on the scoreboard.

It was in the pea soup of the early morning (7:57) that Mizrahie, whose introduction to golf was bizarre at best, went off the 10th tee. And, before you knew it, there were enough red numbers (which signify the number of strokes under par) going up on the scoreboard next to her name to get people asking, “Who’s this Mizrahie?”

The only problem with the red 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s recorded on the course’s scoreboards early in her round was that they were incorrect. Somehow, the hole recorder was turning in birdies instead of the pars she was shooting.

Those red 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s, before the error was caught when she made the turn, had scoreboard watchers believing Mizrahie’s hot play had her challenging for the lead.

In actuality, Mizrahie, 34, tagged a two-under-par 70 onto her opening 71 for a 141, leaving her three strokes behind leader Laura Baugh going into today’s third round.

Mizrahie is not a stranger to California golf fans, but her start in the sport was indeed strange. The 1984 California Publinx champion was born in Indonesia and didn’t start golfing until she was 14. She then preceded, playing with only four clubs and barefoot, to win the first of four consecutive Indonesian Women’s Amateur titles.

She came to the United States to study medicine, but the language barrier cut that pursuit short and she turned her full attention to golf.

Incorrect hole reporting also bugged Jan Stephenson and Mary Beth Zimmerman Friday.

Zimmerman, 25, who won for the first time Sunday in Phoenix, walked into the press tent Friday to the announcement, “We have Mary Beth Zimmerman, who shot a 69 for 139.”

“Correction,” Mary Beth smiled. “I ‘only’ shot a 70.”

Fans who ringed the ninth green--Zimmerman’s closing hole since she started at the 10th--figured she indeed had a 69 when her birdie putt headed for the center of the cup.

“I thought I had it,” Zimmerman said, “but it broke off to the left.”

Tournament leader Laura Baugh, away from her La Quinta, Calif. home for only the second week since the first of the year, has been having telephone fun with her 3 1/2-year-old daughter, Chelsea.

“I’m trying to teach her to whisper,” Baugh said.

Whisper? You know, as in golf course etiquette.

“I’ve had her to a few men’s golf tournaments recently to see how she’s progressing,” Baugh said. “I’m sure not going to have her out to see me play until she can learn to whisper. You can imagine how her shouting, ‘Hi Mom,’ as I came into view would go over with the other women on the tour.”

Three players managed a tremendous swing of strokes between Thursday and Friday’s rounds. Kris Monaghan improved her performance by an amazing 12 strokes, but even her 74 Friday couldn’t overcome her opening 86 and she missed the cut.

Defending-champion Bonnie Lauer improved her play by 10 strokes (80 to 70), but she, too, failed to make the cut. A 10-stroke improvement by Barb Thomas (79 to 69), however, did earn the Sibley, Iowa pro a spot in the third round.

Baugh must have learned something talking to her best friend, Marlene Hagge, Thursday night after Hagge scored a hole-in-one with a 4 iron on the 167-yard third hole. Baugh, using a 5 iron Friday, knocked her tee shot a couple of inches from the cup, resulting in a birdie tap-in. THE TOUGHEST HOLE 9 367 YARDS PAR 4

Eagles 0 Birdies 4 Pars 83 Bogeys 54 Doubles 2 Others 1 Ave. 4.396

Tournament officials, perhaps feeling guilty by how hard the hole played in the first round, moved the pin to the middle of the green for play Friday. The result: Six fewer birdies, 11 more bogeys and the same average as Round 1 on Thursday.