GOLF ROUNDUP : Daniel Gets Her First Major Title

Beth Daniel watched intently as Rosie Jones lined up a 50-foot putt that would have forced a playoff in the LPGA Championship at Bethesda, Md.

Daniel, equipped with the TV microphone, breathed a sigh of relief as Jones’ putt, heading straight for the hole, lipped out to give Daniel a one-stroke victory.

“I thought for sure it was going in,” Daniel said.

Jones, who entered the final round with a two-shot lead, said: “I’ll remember that putt for the rest of my life. Twelve feet from the hole, it was right on target. Six inches from the hole, I’m starting my victory lap.”

Daniel, despite 21 tournament victories in 12 years on the LPGA Tour and more than $2 million in prize money, had never won a major title until Sunday, when she shot a 66 to overcome a five-shot deficit.

Daniel, 33, finished at four-under 280 and earned $150,000, the largest paycheck in LPGA Tour history. She started the final round with three consecutive birdies, birdied Nos. 12 and 13, and then missed a six-footer for par on No. 18.

Chip Beck, rallying from an eight-shot deficit, shot a 65 and won the Buick Open at Grand Blanc, Mich., when Hale Irwin missed a putt on the 72nd hole.

Beck’s 72-hole score was 272, 16-under for four rounds over the 7,014-yard Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club course. Irwin, who hadn’t made a bogey in three rounds, made six on Sunday, shooting a 74 for 273.

Gary Player battled strong winds and a driving rain at Turnberry, Scotland, to win the Seniors British Open by one shot despite double-bogeying the final hole and dropping five shots on the last six holes.

Player managed only a five-over par 75 in the final round, but still had the second-best score on a day on which organizers moved tees forward yet still watched helplessly as scores skyrocketed.

PGA Tour commissioner Deane Beman shot a final-round 81, missing an eight-foot putt on the final hole that would have forced a playoff with Player. And Arnold Palmer almost holed a chip shot on the 18th that also would have forced a playoff.

In a senior tournament at Newport, R.I., Al Kelley shot a final-round 68 to win by two strokes, Jim Dent and John Paul Cain tied for second, and Lee Trevino finished three strokes back.

Kelley broke away from a three-way tie for the lead with birdie putts of 20 and five feet at Nos. 13 and 15. He finished 36 holes at 134, 10-under par, for two rounds. The tournament was shortened after rain washed out Friday’s round.