Steve Stricker shot a 3-under-par 68 and became the fifth new winner on the PGA Tour this year, beating a quartet of players by three strokes Sunday to capture the $1.5 million Kemper Open.
In steady rain, Stricker took the lead with a birdie at No. 5 and an eagle at the sixth, then held on and finished with a 270 total. Mark O'Meara, Brad Faxon, Grant Waite and Scott Hoch tied for second."It always creeps in your mind about winning," said Stricker, whose wife is his caddie. "You've always got to fight it off, it seems like. We handled it pretty well coming down the stretch."
The other first-time winners this year came in a five-week span in March and April: Tim Herron at the Honda Classic, Paul Goydos at the Bay Hill Invitational, Scott McCarron at the Freeport-McDermott Classic and Paul Stankowski at the BellSouth Classic.
Stricker, a third-year PGA Tour pro, has been showing signs of a breakthrough most of the year. Ranked 37th on the money list going into the tournament, he earned $270,000 with the victory.
He finished third at the Hawaiian Open and the Greater Greensboro Open, and has made nine of his last 11 cuts. He ranks second in driving distance this year with a 283.4-yard average.
Stricker's previous best tour finish was a tie for second at last year's Northern Telecom Open in Tucson, Ariz.
With his caddie-wife Nicki following along in her tartan hat, Stricker encountered trouble at the par-3 ninth, where his long putt for birdie sailed past the hole and into the rough near a stream. He made a nice chip recovery for his only bogey of the day.
Stricker then parred six holes in a row, including a save at No. 11 after his tee shot landed in the rough. Although Waite and O'Meara got within a stroke on the back nine, Stricker never lost the lead, and sealed the win with a 12-foot putt for birdie at No. 16.
"No. 11 was a key point for us," Stricker said. "From the tee I thought it was in the water, and as we got there is was just on the edge. We got that up and down, and it was really a key momentum-builder for us."
O'Meara, who shot 67, and Waite, a New Zealander who carded a 66 after a 31 on the front nine, were undone in similar ways. O'Meara bogeyed the 15th after sending his second shot into the sand. Waite did the same at No. 16. In 1993, Waite birdied the hole in the final round when he won this event, his only U.S. PGA Tour victory.
"The difference from when I won and today was the birdie at 16 and the bogey at 16," Waite said.
Faxon shot a 67 and Hoch a 68. Jay Williamson, the leader after three rounds, fell apart with a 79 and tied for 23rd.
John Daly, armed with his new 0-iron, fell from contention when he bogeyed the second hole and shot a 73 to finish tied for 10th.
LPGA Corning Classic
CORNING, N.Y. - Rosie Jones has a new approach to her golf game: No practice makes perfect.
So far, it seems to be working.
Jones arrived for the $600,000 Corning Classic less than 24 hours before her opening tee time and wound up with her seventh career victory. She shot a 3-under-par 69 Sunday to beat Val Skinner by two stokes.
"I know this course like the back of my hand," Jones said. "I could walk out like I did this week and just play. I might not even need a yardage book."
She arrived late for the tournament Wednesday because of a court date. Jones' dog apparently bit a man working on her house in Atlanta.
Jones went to a driving range outside Corning the afternoon before the tournament and didn't step on the hilly, 6,062-yard course at Corning Country Club until Thursday morning when she started the first round. She three-putted one green all week.
"I didn't play protecting my lead," Jones said. "I didn't play any different than I did all week."
Jones, whose last victory came in the Pinewild Women's Championship in April 1995, moved into the top 10 on the LPGA money list with $151,562 in 10 tournaments this year.
She was steady nearly to the finish, with only one bogey until she missed a 3-footer for par on No. 16. Jones made a birdie on the next hole and closed the tournament with a par on No. 18. She finished with 72-hole score of 12-under 276 and earned $90,000.
Jones, the leader for the final three rounds, was holding a one-stroke advantage over Skinner and Patti Liscio before pulling away on the par-5 12th hole.
JCPenny/LPGA Skins Game
FRISCO, Texas - Laura Davies sank a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 14 for a single-hole record $300,000 on Sunday to win the JCPenney/LPGA Skins Game.
It was the most Skins Game money ever won on one hole, including the PGA and Seniors skins.
Davies had left a 12-foot putt short on the 12th hole, a miscalculation that cost her $220,000. Faced with a putt of the same length two holes later, the long-hitting Englishwoman would not make the same error.
"That was the most nervous I've ever been over a putt," she said.
Davies finished with a LPGA Skins Game record $340,000, giving her a career record total of $480,000. Defending champion Dottie Pepper and 1995 LPGA Player of the Year Annika Sorenstam finished with $100,000 each.
Pepper pushed her career skins earnings to $460,000, second to Davies. Beth Daniel became the fourth player in the six years of the competition to finish with no money.
BellSouth Senior Classic
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Isao Aoki sank a 28-foot birdie putt on the final hole Sunday and won the BellSouth Senior Classic by a stroke over Graham Marsh and Jay Sigel.
Aoki became the first wire-to-wire winner on the Senior PGA Tour this year, but he nearly blew a four-stroke lead in the final round before finishing with a 2-under par 70 and a 14-under 202 total.
Marsh shot 67 and Sigel 68 to finish in a second-place tie at 203. Bruce Summerhays, who closed with a 65, was third at 204.
Aoki birdied three of his first four holes before running into trouble on the back nine.
He birdied No. 12 to go 17-under. But he bogeyed Nos. 13 and 15 and double bogeyed 17, the shortest par-4 hole on the course at 323 yards, dropping him into a three-way tie at 13-under.
Aoki's victory, worth $180,000, was his first since last August and fifth on the Senior Tour since joining in September 1992.
Marsh started the day four strokes behind Aoki and trailed by seven strokes when he made the first of six birdies at the par-5 No. 6. He missed his chance at victory on the par-4, 431-yard hole when he pushed his 20-foot putt past the hole and settled for bogey.
Hale Irwin was only a stroke behind Aoki when they started Sunday's round, but Irwin ran into trouble with three bogeys and finished tied for fourth with Dick Rhyan and Simon Hobday at 11-under 205.