David Frost

Barry Lane of England beat two opponents--David Frost and his own reputation for faltering under pressure--to win the $1-million first prize Sunday in the World Championship of Golf in Scottsdale, Ariz. No more than three points separated the finalists during 36 holes of match play before Lane won, 2 up.

Close your eyes, shut off your mind and it's 1986 again. Jack Nicklaus is 46, his hair looks as if somebody stuck a bowl over his head and gave him a trim, he's taking target practice at flagsticks, and he owns the Masters. There was that Nicklaus guy again Thursday at Augusta National, standing in the fifth fairway and air-mailing a five-iron at the pin from 180 yards away and nothing stopping the ball but the bottom of the cup.

It just had to be. The fog was so dense Thursday at the Olympic Club that the only player named after a weather condition is tied for the lead after the first round of the Tour Championship. David Frost shot a five-under-par 66, a score matched by Bill Glasson, Mark McCumber and Steve Lowery, whose round included a hole in one, as the year's wealthiest players on the PGA Tour teed off in the year's richest tour event.

"The reason that the fascination in the man will live is that he was such an enigma," says David Frost of Richard Nixon. "He was such a complex character that he has this dramatic interest that few other Presidents have ever had, being the the only President to be thrown out of office." Seventeen years ago, Frost interviewed the former President in five landmark 90-minute shows that became the most-watched news programming to that date.

David Frost had visions of a 59, but settled for a Harbour Town-record 10-under-par 61 during a second day of low scores and light wind in the Heritage Classic on Friday. Frost had 10 birdies and no bogeys, and his 131 total left him one stroke in front of Jim McGovern and Larry Mize and two ahead of former Heritage winners Greg Norman and Hale Irwin.

David Frost is a quiet player who was born in Capetown, South Africa, and now lives in Dallas. He is not flamboyant, nor does he have any hobbies. However, Frost, 33, has a burning ambition. "I would like to be as good as anybody ever has been," he said. He will receive some recognition if he wins the Tour Championship at the Olympic Club, and he's the leader heading into the final round. Frost shot a two-under-par 69 Saturday for a 54-hole score of 205, eight under par.

David Frost, chatting with the gallery and playing tremendously well, shot a six-under-par 64 Sunday to win the Hardee's Golf Classic at Coal Valley, Ill., for the second year in a row and win on the PGA Tour for the second consecutive week. The South African won by seven strokes in finishing with a tournament record 21-under 259 for 72 holes. The previous mark was 19-under by Blaine McCallister in 1988.

David Frost bogeyed early, hit into the rough, the sand and missed short putts, but he still managed to emerge Saturday from a three-way tie to lead the Hardee's Classic at Coal Valley, Ill. The defending champion shot a six-under-par 64 and was at 195, two strokes better than D.A. Weibring after 54 holes. Frost and Weibring each stumbled with an early bogey before settling into a par-breaking rhythm across the soggy Oakwood Country Club course.

David Frost had birdies on three of the last four holes Friday to tie Lee Janzen for the 36-hole lead in the Phoenix Open. Frost, one of seven players who shared the first-day lead, shot his second five-under-par 66 by using only 22 putts over the 6,992-yard TPC of Scottsdale course. "It was one of my best putting rounds ever," the 33-year-old South African said. Janzen shot a 65 on Friday to join Frost at 132, and both were two shots ahead of the field.