Gil Morgan is hard enough to catch when he's playing his regular game. Don't even think about it when he's almost perfect.
Morgan played a third day of nearly flawless golf to win the Utah Showdown on Sunday by four shots over Isao Aoki and John Mahaffey.Morgan played a bogey-free tournament, only the ninth in senior tour history and the first since Hale Irwin did it at last year's Vantage Championships. Morgan recorded his fifth win this season, tying him with Irwin for the tour lead, and his second in four weeks.
Though Morgan started the final round with a three-stroke lead and dominated play for the third day, Aoki made Sunday interesting with a big move on the front nine.
He birdied six of the first eight holes on the final clear, windy day at the Park Meadows course. Aoki was just two shots behind Morgan at the turn after starting the day five strokes back, but he faded down the stretch, picking up just one birdie on the back nine to finish with a final-round 66.
Mahaffey, a former PGA Championship winner who joined the senior tour in May, birdied three of the last four holes to sneak into a second place tie for his best senior tour finish.
Morgan, who finished with a final-round 67, won for the 12th time in less than two years on the senior tour. He only decided to enter the Utah Showdown earlier in the week and had never played the Park Meadows course.
His scores weren't jaw-dropping spectacular, but Morgan's drives and short game were so solid that he faced no more than "about six tough par putts," he said.
Aoki's famed putting stroke was re-sponsible for most of his six birdies early in the round. He hit a 60-footer on the 4th hole, which he celebrated with a swing of his Panama hat and a low bow to the cheering gallery.
But Aoki's putter deserted him on the back nine, and he could only watch as Morgan pulled away with birdies on 11 and 14. Aoki and Mahaffey were followed by Hugh Baiocchi in fourth place, six strokes behind Morgan and a shot ahead of five players in fifth.
Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench played his best round of the tournament Sunday, carding a 3-over 75. The senior tour rookie finished the event in a tie for 72nd place with a 231.
LPGA du Maurier
WINDSOR, Ontario - The shootout turned into survival Sunday at the du Maurier Classic, something Brandie Burton understands as well as anyone.
Beset by injuries and self-doubt over five winless years on the LPGA Tour, Burton won the final major championship of the season by making an 8-foot par putt on the last hole to beat Annika Sorenstam by one stroke. Burton closed with an even-par 72, still enough to set a tournament record at 18-under 270, the lowest score in relation to par ever at a women's major. Betsy King had a 17-under 267 in winning the 1992 LPGA Championship.
Nothing came easy on another warm, sunny day that finally dried out the greens and, along with the Sunday pressure of a major, put some teeth into the Essex Golf & Country Club.
None of the players within six shots of the lead managed to break 70.
And Burton, who also won the du Maurier in 1993 in a playoff over King, made it especially difficult on the final two holes."I was just trying to cross the finish line," Burton said.
Leading Sorenstam by one stroke on the par-5 17th, Burton sailed her 3-wood into a swale of rough to the right of the green. With Sorenstam facing a 25-foot eagle putt, Burton raised the heel of her wedge slightly to keep it from getting caught in the rough, and chipped to 4 feet.
Both walked off with birdies, but Burton kept the outcome in doubt when her 7-iron into the 18th hit a tall oak tree hanging over the right side and kicked into the fairway, 60 yards short.
She chipped over the ridge to 6 feet. After Sorenstam hit a nice chip out of the rough to assure par, Burton hit her 8-footer into the center of the cup, bent over and buried her face in her hands.
Se Ri Pak, trying to become the first woman since Pat Bradley in 1986 and the first rookie ever to win three majors in a year, had a 1-over 73. She finished at 283.
She finally takes a break - although a week of filming television ads awaits - and will resurface in two weeks at the Women's British Open.
"Maybe I'll practice a little bit," she said. "Then I just rest. I want to sleep."
Burton was the LPGA rookie of the year in 1991 as a 19-year-old. She won four tournaments - including three in 1993 - before she turned 22.
But the 26-year-old Californian hadn't won since. Injuries to her wrist, rib and back, plus three jaw surgeries, kept her in and out of the game. Burton walked away from golf for five months before deciding she couldn't live without it.
"I'm a lot happier now than when I won my first tournament," she said. "I was so locked into golf. I wasn't having fun. I'll make sure I enjoy this one."
Curtis Cup
MINNEAPOLIS - The United States won the Curtis Cup for the first time in eight years, beating Britain-Ireland Sunday in the two-day competition at The Minikahda Club.
Singles victories by Kellee Booth and Brenda Corrie-Kuehn with four matches to go gave the U.S. an insurmountable 91/2-41/2 lead in the biennial women's amateur golf event.
Members of the U.S. team embraced each other after Corrie-Kuehn beat Becky Morgan with a par putt at the 17th hole.
The Americans, who came into the final day needing four points to win, took a commanding 71/2-41/2 lead in the morning after winning two of the three foursome matches.