Golf Roundup : Rodriguez Shoots a 67 to Defend Title and Set a Tournament Record

Chi Chi Rodriguez shot a five-under-par 67 Sunday and finished with a tournament-record 198 to successfully defend his title in the Digital Seniors tournament at Concord, Mass.

Rodriguez finished eight shots ahead of Orville Moody, who finished the $250,000 tournament in second place. The eight-shot gap represents the largest margin of victory on the Senior Tour this year. Rodriguez, the tour’s leading money winner in 1987, earned $37,500 for his victory at the Nashawtuc Country Club.

Harold Henning, who began the final round in second place four shots back, dropped to third at 208. Larry Mowry and Peter Thomson finished 11 shots back at 209, and Bob Brue and Dale Douglass tied at 210.

Gardner Dickinson and Tommy Aaron finished at 211, one stroke ahead of Miller Barber, Bill Collins and Lee Elder, a former Digital champion.

Rodriguez said he was helped by a new set of irons, which arrived just before Friday’s opening round.

“I think I’m gonna use these irons for a while,” Rodriguez said following his runaway victory. “It was nice to have a lead like this. I just loved playing the last hole.”

Rodriguez, 51, has finished in the top three in 9 of his last 11 senior events, with 6 victories in the span.

“My goal is to win about 11 tournaments,” Rodriguez said. “When I came out here, my goal was to break all the Senior Tour records, because I know that when Nicklaus and Trevino get out here. . . .

“I’m a happy-go-lucky guy just out here trying to do my best. But you’ve got to work very hard to get luck. When they start calling you lucky, you know you have arrived.”

Mary Beth Zimmerman fought off two challengers on the last five holes for a three-shot victory in the $300,000 LPGA Henredon tournament at High Point, N.C.

Zimmerman, whose two earlier career victories came in consecutive tournaments in February of 1986, had a six-under-par 66 Sunday for a three-day total of nine-under-par 207. The tournament was shortened to 54 holes after heavy rain flooded the Willow Creek Golf Course Friday, postponing the second round until Saturday.

“I went out and felt I had to shoot anything from a 66 to a 68,” Zimmerman said. “I went out and told my caddie we’re going to start out right away and fire it right at the pin.”

Zimmerman stuck to her word and birdied her first hole as well as the fourth on her way to the $45,000 first prize. She continued the charge with a back-nine rally, starting with a three-foot birdie putt at 10. She capped it with a three-footer for a birdie at 15 and 15-foot putts for birdies at 17 and 18.

With many of the remaining 72 players using umbrellas to fight off the sun, it seemed certain a few of them would be in the heat a little longer as participants in a playoff. Zimmerman was tied with Heather Drew and Laurie Rinker at six under par through the front nine, and 1985 Henredon champion Nancy Lopez was within striking distance before Zimmerman pulled away.

Rinker, Lopez and Beth Daniel tied for second with totals of 209. Drew finished at six-under-par 210.

Howard Clark of England tied the course record with a nine-under-par 63 and scored a two-stroke victory over Australian Ossie Moore in the $240,000 PLM Open tournament at Malmo, Sweden.

It was the second-lowest final-round in the European Tour’s history. Bernhard Langer of West Germany closed with a 62 in a Spanish tournament three years ago.