GOLF ROUNDUP : NO JOKE: WILLIAMSON TIED FOR THE LEAD.

Byline: Associated Press 

Jay Williamson, whose inept play in the same event last year drew laughter from the gallery, birdied his last four holes Thursday to tie Scott McCarron and Billy Andrade for the first-round lead at the Kemper Open in Potomac, Md.

Finishing on the front nine before a sparse crowd in the next-to-last group of the day, Williamson sank putts of 5, 6, 12 and 6 feet for a 5-under-par 66.

That was easily his best round of the year, and a big improvement over last year, when Williamson shot a 78 and 82 and went home on Saturday.

``I was walking down the back nine and people were laughing at me,'' said Williamson, who had to go back to qualifying school at the end of last year to keep his tour card. ``They flashed my score up. People were saying, `Hey I can do better than that.' I thought about it when I got here on Monday.''

Six players - Brad Fabel, Brad Faxon, Mike Sullivan, Mark O'Meara, Chris Smith and Bob Gilder - were one shot off the lead on a beautiful, sunny day when the fairways were soft and the greens slow at the TPC at Avenel course.

Lee Janzen, the defending champion at the $1.5 million tournament, shot a 1-over-par 72, bogeying the 18th after six consecutive birdies at the hole over the past two years. Nick Price withdrew before the round began with a virus.

Arizona's day: Arizona freshman Marisa Baena had the individual lead by three strokes and defending champion Arizona State took the team lead after two rounds of the NCAA women's golf championships in La Quinta.

UCLA's Kathy Choi had a 74 to move into a tie for sixth at 152.

Arizona State had a 48-over 624 total, one shot better than Arizona and Stanford. UCLA and Wake Forest were at 626.

Benz leads: Amy Benz shot a 6-under-par 66 and took a one-stroke lead over three others in the first round of the $600,000 LPGA Corning (N.Y.) Classic. Liselotte Neumann was tied with Val Skinner and Rosie Jones at 67.