Moanalua High School junior Tadd Fujikawa shot a 6-over-par 78 yesterday in the Casio World Open, a Japan Golf Tour Organization pro event in Japan.

The 16-year-old Fujikawa, seeking to make his first professional cut after seven missed attempts, is tied for 84th place and ranks near the bottom of the field.

He had four bogeys and one double bogey in his round (38-40).

In an e-mail yesterday, Fujikawa said the course was very "difficult," and he had a hard time gauging the inconsistent winds.

His double bogey came on the par-3 11th when he four-putted.

Jet Ozaki is among four golfers tied for the lead at 3-under 69 at the Kochi Kuroshio Country Club.

Hawai'i's Gregory Meyer, a regular on the Japan tour, opened with a 72 and was tied for 13th.

WORLD CUP OF GOLF

SHENZHEN, China — Maybe the United States doesn't need Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson to win the World Cup of Golf. Two players out of the same high school in the Florida Panhandle are doing just fine.

That would be Boo Weekley and Heath Slocum.

They combined for an 11-under 61 in best-ball play yesterday to take a one-stroke lead over Germany's Alex Cejka and Martin Kaymer. Finland, Wales, Scotland, South Africa, Thailand and England were two shots back.

Weekley had six birdies and an eagle — and a Southern drawl that made him seem farther from home on Thanksgiving than simply an 8,000-mile flight.

"It's a culture shock for me to be able to come out and see different things, because I'm a home boy," Weekley said. "I like to stay right around the house in the States."

Weekley, No. 43 in the world, was picked to represent the United States in the 28-team event after 13 other higher-ranked Americans turned down the invitation. In turn, he picked the 70th-ranked Slocum, his friend from Milton High School at the western tip of the Florida Panhandle.

AUSTRALIAN MASTERS

MELBOURNE, Australia — Robert Allenby's golf was better than his prognostication at the Australian Masters yesterday.

Two-time champion Allenby, in one of the early morning groups at Huntingdale, shot a 5-under-par 67 in ideal conditions, then suggested it wouldn't be enough to hold the first-round lead.

"I'd say seven or eight under will be what you need today." Allenby said.

No one improved on the early score posted by Allenby, who took a one-stroke lead over Fredrik Andersson Hed of Sweden and Peter Baker of England on the 6,980-yard Huntingdale course.