Five years after her brother's death almost killed her passion for golf, a newly resolved Penny Hammel barged through a cluster of contenders to win the Rochester International by one stroke.
Hammel escaped a playoff duel with Dottie Pepper when the defending champion missed a 2-foot par putt on the last hole Sunday. It was Hammel's fourth win on the LPGA Tour, but the first since 1991."You don't want to wish anything bad on a fellow competitor, but I was relieved," said Hammel, who shot a 4-under-par 68 for a 9-under 279 total. Winning again "was like a monkey off my back."
Pepper, who closed with a 71, slid into a three-way tie for second with Tammie Green , the 1993 champion, and Nanci Bowen . Third-round leader Allison Finney could manage only a 73 and dropped into a tie for fifth with Kim Saiki and Australia's Wendy Doolan.
Hammel, 35, a native of Decatur, Ill., posted tour wins in 1985, 1989 and 1991. But success dried up after the youngest of her five brothers, Lee, contracted the AIDS virus and died in 1992 at age 27.
"Up until then, golf was everything. But, after, it was like, `There's a lot more to life,"' she said.
Rededicating herself to the game last year, Hammel had her most lucrative season. She tied for second in the Women's British Open and for third in the LPGA Championship, earning $259,359.
After a slow start this year, Hammel ran up two top-10 finishes over the last month, pushing her career earnings above $1 million. She took home $90,000 from the Locust Hill course to raise her 1997 earnings to $168,736.
It was a crowded charge to the finish, with seven players either tied for the lead or one off it at the turn.
Hammel started fast, making putts of 30, 8 and 15 feet on No. 2, 3 and 7. Wayward tee shots brought bogeys at 11 and 14, but she rebounded each time with birdies, dropping a 30-footer on 15.
Pepper drove out of bounds on No. 4 for a double-bogey, then made a 45-footer for birdie on the next hole. She joined the leader with a 12-foot birdie putt on 12 and saved from 25 feet on the 13th.
As Hammel paced nervously out of sight behind the crowd, Pepper came up short on the 18th, chipped up close, then sent her putt a few inches past the cup.
"Yeah, I'm shocked," Pepper said with resignation. "It just didn't go in when it counted."
Last year, coming off a six-week slump, Pepper won the rain-shortened tournament for the first of four 1996 victories and one of 11 top-10 finishes.