Joe Durant, who had a great start in last week's U.S. Open, birdied three of the last five holes Sunday to pull away from Vijay Singh and win the Western Open for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Durant had a 6-under-par 66 to finish with a 17-under 271 total, two strokes ahead of Singh, the third-round leader. Singh was up and down throughout a final-round 72, his first round over 70 in the tournament at Cog Hill's Dubsdread course.U.S. Open winner Lee Janzen couldn't duplicate his magic of last weekend, shooting a 71 and finishing in a tie for third at 277 with Dudley Hart, who tied the course record with a 9-under 63.
Greg Kraft, this year's first-round leader who finished second in the 1994 Western Open, fell apart on the final day of the $2.2 million, Motorola-sponsored event. He shot a 3-over 75 to finish at 10-under 278. Steve Stricker, the 1996 Western Open champion, also was at 278 after shooting a 71 Sunday.
Tiger Woods had another strong round, shooting a 69 to finish at 7-under 281. But the defending champion was never in contention after his dismal first round, when he shot a 4-over 76 and was in danger of missing the cut.
It's not been an easy season for Woods, who's won only one PGA Tour event and wasn't in contention at the Masters or the U.S. Open. His putting has been his biggest problem, but Woods said he was pleased with how he played this week.
"My game is very close," he said. "I've got a real good feeling because I'm over the putter now thinking, `I'm hoping they're going to go in,' to `I know they're going to go in.' That's a big difference."
Until this week, Durant had never even led after a round in a PGA Tour event. His best finish was a tie for fifth at last year's Honda Classic.
Frustrated with not winning, he left golf for about six months at the end of 1991. He bounced between the Nike and PGA tours the past five years, and was 129th on the money list last year with $97,669.
Durant led the U.S. Open for a few holes last week and was just two strokes off the lead after the first round and finished tied for 32nd. He brought that same form with him to Cog Hill. He led after the second round, and was four strokes behind Singh coming into Sunday.
He birdied Nos. 1 and 3, only to lose a stroke with a bogey on No. 4. He got it back on No. 5 and then picked up another stroke with a birdie on No. 9 to put him at 14 under.
After birdies on Nos. 10 and 11, Durant bogeyed No. 12. But he got the stroke back with a birdie on 14 to start his string of three straight. He also birdied 17, but bogeyed 18 after hitting his second shot into the rough off the green and chunking his first chip shot.
Trading birdies and bogeys on the front nine, Singh was never quite being able to get ahead. After bogeying 14, he chipped in from 40 feet for an eagle on the par-5 15th.
But he bogeyed 16 after putting his second shot into a trap, and the tournament was Durant's.
Kraft was in the hunt through the front nine, even tying Singh for the lead at 14 under on No. 7, but he bogeyed 8 and 10, and he knocked himself out of the running on 14.
His tee shot on the par-3 went into the bunker, and after putting his second shot on the fringe, he two-putted for a bogey that put him 11 under.
Hart, who started the day at two under, had five birdies on the front nine and four on the back to tie the course record held by Jeff Sluman (third round, 1992), and John Adams (third round, 1993). He almost had the record to himself, but his birdie putt on No. 18 rolled just below the hole.
"I wasn't really thinking about a course record," said Hart, who withdrew from the U.S. Open after hurting his wrist in the first round. "That doesn't mean as much as shooting as low as you can and finishing well in the tournament."
NFL Senior Classic
CLIFTON, N.J. - Bob Dickson avoided a nearly disastrous mistake on the 17th hole and then rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to win his first Senior PGA tournament, the Cadillac NFL Golf Classic, on Sunday.
Dickson's first PGA win since capturing the Andy Williams-San Diego Open in 1973 wasn't assured until Larry Nelson missed a 5-foot birdie putt just seconds later to end the three-way playoff.
Jim Colbert, who was looking for his first win since surgery for prostate cancer in June, 1997, had missed a downhill 25-foot putt on the par-5, 590 yard No. 18 at the Upper Montclair Country Club seconds before Dickson converted.
The playoff hole marked the end to a congested final round in which 10 players all hovered within two shots of the lead most of the sunny, pleasant day.
Dickson, who shot a final-round 2-under-par 70, and Colbert seemed headed for a playoff before Nelson, who was looking for his third win of the year, roared into the playoff with birdies on the 16th and 18th holes.
Nelson, who was trying to join Gil Morgan and Hale Irwin as the only three-time winners this year, had a chip for an eagle on the final hole of regulation but could only get it to within tap-in range.
Dana Quigley , J.C. Snead , defending champion Bruce Crampton and Dave Stockton all missed the playoff by a shot with 8-under-par 208 totals. Bruce Summerhays, who was tied for the lead with four holes to play before bogeys on two par 3s, led four more golfers two shots behind the leaders.
Mike McCullough, who entered the final round with a one-shot lead over Jay Sigel, fell apart on the back nine and finished at 5-under-par after a 77 along with Sigel .
Dickson nearly lost the championship at the par-3, 215-yard No. 17. He put his tee shot on the green about 50 feet from the pin, but then putted with the pin still in the hole and his caddie standing next to him. Had the ball struck the pin, it would have been a two-shot penalty.
Colbert, who was playing in his group, said he saw the incident and he was ready to remove the pin had the ball not stopped 5 feet from it.
It was fortunate that the tournament had an electronic scoreboard because there were enough leaders to fill most of the first two pages.
Halfway through the round there were eight players tied for the lead at 8-under-par. Five players were still tied when Dickson birdied the 13th to join McCullough, Colbert, Summerhays and Nelson at 9-under par.
Nelson and McCullough lost their share of the lead at the par-4, 12th hole. McCullough double-bogeyed after hitting into the water next to the green, while Nelson bogeyed the hole.
That left Summerhays, Colbert and Dickson, who were all playing in the same group, in the lead. Summerhays slipped out of contention with bogeys at the 15th and 17th holes.
ShopRite LPGA Classic
ABSECON, N.J. - Annika Sorenstam was again nearly perfect, making birdies on the final four holes for a 65 Sunday to win the ShopRite LPGA Classic by four strokes over Juli Inkster.
Sorenstam, who finished at 17-under-par 196, made only one bogey in 54 holes on the Bay Course at the Seaview Marriott Resort.
She goes into the U.S. Open this week with victories in two consecutive starts and top-10 finishes in 10 of 11 tournaments this year.
"I got it going on Friday and just kept it there," Sorenstam said. "Hopefully, I can carry it into next week."
Playing the same relentless game of hitting fairways and greens that won the U.S. Open in 1995 and '96, Sorenstam grabbed a share of the lead after the first round and never surrendered it, shooting rounds of 66, 65 and 65.
"This is a tough course," she said after hitting all but one fairway Sunday. "I can't believe I hit so many fairways."
While others made mistakes Sorenstam was sensational, just as she was when she won her last U.S. Open in 1996 by hitting 51 of 56 fairways at Pine Needles in North Carolina.
Her only bogey of the week came on No. 12 on Saturday when she had a 30-foot putt from above the hole and hit it 15 feet past down the slippery slope, missing the par putt coming back.
She shattered the tournament record of 6 under par on this course set by Betsy King in 1987 and also broke the 12-under-par ShopRite record set last year by Michelle McGann on the Greate Bay Resort course. It was Sorenstam's 14th victory on the LPGA tour.
Lorie Kane closed with a 67 and was third at 203 and Helen Dobson was at 204.
Donna Andrews, who had finished second in each of her last four starts, made a run early with birdies on two of the first three holes but cooled off and shot a 69 and was among those at 205.
Paired in the final group, Sorenstam and Inkster were locked in old-fashioned match-play golf with Sorenstam holding a two-stroke lead when the round started.
Both players started tentatively and Inkster cracked first when she missed the second green to the right and chipped poorly, leaving 15 feet for par, which she missed to fall three behind.
Inkster squandered a great opportunity when she hit the third green in two and had an 18-foot eagle putt. She barely missed the first putt then pulled the second one from 30 inches and watched in disbelief as the ball dipped into the left side of the cup but stayed out.
Muttering to herself as she walked onto the fourth tee, Inkster then reeled off three consecutive birdies, making a 20-footer on No. 4 and hitting irons to inside 3 feet on Nos. 5 and 6.