Paul Stankowski rolled in a one-foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole Sunday to beat defending champion Jim Furyk and win the Hawaiian Open.
Stankowski, who won the BellSouth Classic last year for his only other PGA Tour victory, drove his second shot on the par-5, 18th hole to just off the green and then two-putted to win the $216,000 first prize.He also made a 25-foot putt on the 353-yard 10th to keep the extra round going.
Furyk, who needed three extra holes last year to beat Brad Faxon, had to make a 10-footer to send the match to a fifth extra hole, but his putt slid just right of the cup.
Mike Reid, who had a one-stroke lead going into the final round, also made the playoff but was eliminated on the first hole.
The three-player playoff was the largest in the 32-year history of the Hawaiian Open, and the four extra holes was the longest.
While Furyk and Reid fought for the title, Stankowski stayed quietly in the hunt and made the playoff.
He played the front nine at the 7,012-yard Waialae Country Club at par, then picked up two strokes coming in despite a bogey at the 411-yard 14th.
Furyk, three strokes behind at the start of the day, dropped to four back and then rolled in three consecutive birdies to make the turn at 17-under/
Furyk appeared to be in control heading to the closing holes, opening a two-stroke lead, but he dropped into third when he four-putted for a double-bogey at the 396-yard 15th.
He closed with a bogey and two birdie. Stankowski and Reid also had birdie putts on the closing hole, creating a three-way tie at 271. Stankowski shot a 70, Furyk 68 and Reid 71.
Donnie Howard shot a closing 69 and Jay Don Blake had a 70, sharing fourth place at 15-under 273.
GTE Senior Classic
LUTZ, Fla. - Even with a seemingly safe three-shot lead going into the last hole, David Graham wouldn't allow himself to relax.
"Celebrating early is not appropriate - at least to me," he said after shooting a 65 Sunday to win the Senior Tour's $900,000 GTE Classic and collect the biggest paycheck of his career.
"I've seen it all," the Australian-born golfer added, alluding to some of the collapses he's witnessed. "I will not allow myself to feel a tournament is over before the last ball is in the hole."
Graham finished with a 54-hole total of 9-under-par 204 on the par 71, 6,638-yard course at the TPC of Tampa Bay and earned $135,000 - nearly twice as much as he ever took home for a week's work in 20 years on the PGA Tour.
Bob Dickson was second at 207, followed by Ray Floyd , Hubert Green and Bruce Summerhays at 208. Gil Morgan and second-round leader Bob Eastwood faltered on the back nine to join Isao Aoki at 209 - five shots behind Graham.
"I hung in there pretty good," said Dickson, who was steady - if not spectacular - with four birdies and no bogeys. "I had some short birdie putts that I didn't make, but I have no regrets. If we all played the `what if game,' we'd all be 20 under par."
Morgan missed an opportunity to make it interesting when he double-bogeyed No. 15 after Graham, who birdied four straight holes beginning at No. 11, suddenly showed signs of being vulnerable.
Graham bogeyed No. 15, but retained a three-shot advantage because Morgan was unable to take advantage of the leader's momentary lapse. He played it safe the rest of the way, finishing with seven birdies and the lone bogey that wound up not hurting him.
"I love to compete ... and its been a long time since my blood ran that quick," Graham said of the string of birdies, ranging from two to 12 feet, that enabled him to pull away. "I got a little edgy on the 18th tee. But other than that, I was OK."
Although he won two major championships (the 1979 PGA Championship and the 1981 U.S. Open) and earned more than $1.8 million on the PGA Tour, Sunday's victory was the most lucrative of Graham's career.
His biggest PGA Tour payday was $72,000 for the 1983 Houston Open, the last of eight tournaments he won on that circuit. His best Senior performance before the GTE Classic was a tie for second - worth $70,350 - n last year's Emerald Coast Classic.
"I hadn't thought about that," the 51-year-old Graham said. "But it's not surprising, considering the growth of golf ... I remember winning the Cleveland Open (1972, his first PGA win). It was a $150,000 tournament and I won $30,000. And I thought that was a lot of money."
LPGA LA Championship
GLENDALE, Calif. - Terry-Jo Myers' triumph was considerably more than just a golf victory.
Myers, who has fought a long battle against a painful, depressing disease that led her to the brink of suicide, charged past the fading Annika Sorenstam to win the Los Angeles Women's Championship on Sunday, her first victory in nine years.
Myers finished with a 6-under-par 66 to rally from five shots behind and beat Sorenstam by two shots.
The 34-year-old Myers, who two years ago began using an experimental drug that cleared her of the symptoms of the bladder disease interstitial cystitis, began crying on the 16th hole at Oakmont Country Club on Sunday, realizing that she had, at least for the time, beaten her illness and regained her golf career.
"My emotion is not about going so long without a win. It's connected more with overcoming a very serious disease and actually being able to win again," Myers said. "That's what the emotion is about, staying out here and playing.
"I'm very proud of myself."
Myers finished at 10-under at Oakmont Country Club to win for just the second time in her 12 years on the Tour, and the winner's check of $97,500 was more money than she had won in any previous year.
After she walked off the 18th green, Myers was still choking back tears as she talked in the press room about the disease that struck her 13 years ago, which she described as painful as razor cuts and which made it necessary to use the bathroom some 60 times every day and 20 times every night.
The drug she was allowed to use, Elmiron, made her symptom-free, she said, although it works that well on only 40 percent of users. And Myers, having difficulty getting the words out, spoke of how she almost took her life four years ago.
It was a long road from there to Sunday, when she played extremely well, made a number of long birdie putts, and overtook one of the LPGA's dominant players.
The leader the first two days and looking like a threat to turn the tournament into a runaway, Sorenstam came abruptly to earth with a 73.
It was another three shots back to a group at 5-under that included Donna Andrews, Kelly Robbins, Ellie Gibson, Catrin Nilsmark and Alicia Dibos.
Myers began the final round by sinking birdie putts on the first two holes, then took the lead for the first time in the tournament with another birdie on No. 13.
Playing in the threesome just in front of Sorenstam, Myers stretched the lead to three shots when she snaked in an 18-foot birdie putt on No. 16, moments after Sorenstam had bogeyed No. 15.
Sorenstam, who had putted well the first two rounds, was shaky on the greens the last day, three-putting on three occasions and missing short birdie tries other times.
The 1995 player of the year, two-time defending U.S. Women's Open champion and the lowest scorer on the Tour the past two years, Sorenstam still has a win - in the Tournament of Champions last month - and a second in the only two events she's played this year.
Australian Masters
MELBOURNE, Australia - Tiger Woods, his putting game confounding him yet again, finished in eighth place Sunday at the Australian Masters, which was won in a playoff by cash-strapped Aussie Peter Lonard.
Four years ago, Lonard was bedridden with a rare tropical disease. And the fight to regain his health - he was so weary he could not walk two holes of golf - drained his finances to the point that he was down to his last $100 in the bank.
Now he had his first victory as a professional, defeating countryman Peter O'Malley on the second extra hole.
"This is probably the greatest day of my life," he said.
Woods closed with a 1-under-par 73, seven strokes off the pace. He had a total of 9-under 283, tied with Larry Mize and Australian veteran Rodger Davis.