Golf Roundup : A ‘Zinger’ of a Finish: Eagle Putt Wins It

Paul Azinger eagled the final hole with a 20-foot putt to break a three-way tie Sunday and win the $1.3 million Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational, the richest tournament on the PGA Tour.

Azinger, who earned $225,000 for the victory, rolled in the winning putt over a hump on the par-5, 524-yard 18th hole to finish off a final round of eight-under-par 64.

Azinger, called “Zinger” by his fellow pros, finished the rain-shortened tournament with a four-round total of 17-under-par 271. One shot back was Hal Sutton, who missed a 15-foot eagle try on the 18th and had to settle for a birdie.

Curtis Strange, tied with Azinger and Sutton heading into the 18th, parred the final hole to finish alone at 273. Sutton and Strange each had final rounds of 67.

A total of 156 professionals began the tournament Wednesday, but a three-hour rain delay forced officials to shorten the event from 90 to 72 holes.

The players competed at the 7,111-yard Desert Inn and 7,088-yard Spanish Trail country clubs during the first three rounds before moving to the Las Vegas Country Club, the easiest of the three courses, for Sunday’s final round.

The victory was Azinger’s second of the year, and second of his career. Earlier this season, he won at Phoenix, where Sutton was also the runner-up. He missed a short putt on the final hole that would have forced a playoff.

Azinger and Corey Pavin are the only two-time winners on the tour this season.

With Sunday’s earnings, Azinger is the season money-winning leader with $442,460.

Azinger was not the only big winner. Scott Hoch won a luxury automobile, valued at $118,000, when his 3-iron shot found the cup for a hole-in-one on the 212-yard 17th hole.

Cindy Hill, who took sole possession of the lead when Jan Stephenson withdrew because of injuries suffered in an automobile accident, shot a six-under-par 66 to win the LPGA’s $225,000 S&H; tournament at St. Petersburg, Fla.

Jane Crafter was second, three shots behind.

Hill, winning for only the second time in nine years on the tour, finished with a 72-hole score of 17-under-par 271 that shattered a tournament record of 272, set by Alice Miller in 1985 and equaled by Pat Bradley last year.

Crafter, who shot an eight-under-par 64, tied a course record established by Judy Dickinson in the opening round of the 1985 S&H.; She finished with a four-day total of 274.

Kathy Postlewait, one of four golfers who started the day one shot behind Hill, shot a 69 to finish at 275, four strokes behind the winner. Lori Garbacz was one shot farther back at 276, followed by five players at 277.

Myra Blackwelder, playing despite being seven months pregnant, shot a 74 and finished at eight-under-par 280.

Hill, playing in her first tournament in nine weeks, won $33,750.

Stephenson and Hill shared the lead after three rounds. But an automobile accident that occurred minutes after Stephenson left the Pasadena Yacht & Country Club on Saturday night forced this year’s fifth-leading money winner out of the tournament.

Stephenson, who was treated and released from a local hospital, suffered lacerations to her scalp, dislocated ribs and a sprained back, officials said.

The accident occurred, police said, when the driver of another car ran a red light.

In a dramatic finish, Sam Torrance of Scotland won the Italian Open by defeating Spain’s Jose Rivero on the sixth hole of a sudden-death playoff at Monticello, Italy.

Torrance shot a four-under-par 68 final round to complete 72 holes in 271. But Rivero’s final round of 66 left the two golfers tied after four rounds with 271, forcing the playoff.

Torrance earned the $38,000 first prize with a par-4 on the sixth hole. Rivero, taking a bogey 5, knocked his second shot into the bunker, scrambled the ball out, but two-putted from 40 yards.

Bob Charles, playing some of the best golf of his 25-year career, shot a four-under-par 68 to win the $250,000 Sunwest Bank-Charley Pride Seniors tournament at the Four Hills Country Club in Albuquerque, N.M.

The win was the third straight individual title for the left-handed Charles this season, keeping him atop the money earnings list with $151,000.

In a little more than a year on the Senior Tour, Charles has won $412,160, nearly equaling the $539,118 he won on the regular PGA Tour over 23 years.

He also won the Vantage Chrysler Invitational at Indian Wells and the GTE Classic at Simi Valley earlier this season.

He won the $37,500 first-place check with an 8-under-par 54-hole score of 208.

The low round of the day was fired by Larry Mowry, who tied the course record with a 62. Mowry, who shot an 81 on Saturday, finished the tournament at 214.