Golf Roundup : Thompson Ends Long Drought as Stewart Bogeys 18th Hole

The loser smiled bravely while the winner wept.

Leonard Thompson, winless for 12 years on the PGA Tour, watched Payne Stewart bogey the final hole of the $1-million Buick Open golf tournament Sunday, giving Thompson a one-stroke victory at Grand Blanc, Mich.

“There’s nothing wrong with crying,” said Thompson, who began doing so when Stewart’s par-saving putt rolled past the 18th hole.

Thompson, 42, whose only previous wins in 19 years on the tour were in the 1974 Jackie Gleason Inverrary and the 1977 Pensacola Open, shot a four-under-par 68 and finished at 15-under-par 273. He is the oldest player to win on the tour this year.

“Man, it was so long ago that I won that I hardly remember what year it was,” Thompson said. “At Pensacola, on the 18th green, I said to myself, ‘Remember this because there’s no guarantee you’ll be here again.’ ”

The $180,000 paycheck for his victory was more than the $136,985 he had won the last two years combined . It also topped his best year on the tour--1980, when he won $138,826.

Stewart, with a closing 72, finished in a three-way tie for second place with Billy Andrade and Doug Tewell.

Thompson, who shot an opening-round 65, started the final round 11 under par, three strokes behind Stewart.

Thompson took a short-lived lead with a birdie on the 16th hole, moving to 16 under par. He three-putted from 15 feet for a bogey on the 182-yard, par-three 17th hole to slip back to 15 under par, then parred the final hole.

Stewart and Hal Sutton, playing in the group behind Thompson, were both at 15 under par until Sutton double-bogeyed No. 17.

That left it up to Stewart.

His second shot from the left fringe flew into a bunker on the back right side of the 18th green, and his eight-footer to save par slid two feet past.

Nancy Lopez, who entered the final round of the $225,000 LPGA Atlantic City tournament one stroke back, shot a one-under-par 69 for a 206 total and a one-stroke victory at Somers Point, N.J.

Chris Johnson and Vicki Fergon, the 36-hole co-leaders, each shot a 71 to tie for second place.

The victory was only Lopez’s second of the year. “I’ve been playing so well lately and finishing second and third so much,” she said. “I thought I was snake-bit.”

Lopez was able to get down in two from 40 feet on the final hole for the last of six straight pars.

Jim Dent capped a comeback from a six-stroke deficit by rolling in a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the $275,000 Newport Cup Senior tournament at Newport, R.I.

Dent trailed Harold Henning by five strokes after two rounds and by six after the first hole Sunday. But he shot a six-under-par 66 and took advantage of a collapse by Henning on the back nine to win by one stroke.

Dent, a 50-year-old Senior PGA Tour rookie, finished with a 54-hole total of 10-under-par 206.