O’Meara Turns Money Race Into A Runaway

Golf

Mark O’Meara can use the car he won Sunday to haul away all the money he’s collected in the first month of the PGA Tour.

A week after beating Tiger Woods by a stroke at Pebble Beach, Calif., O’Meara held off a pack of seven to win the Buick Invitational at San Diego by two strokes and extended his money-list lead to a whopping $710,460 after just four tournaments.

The $270,000 first-place check made O’Meara the fifth player to earn more than $8 million on the PGA Tour.

And he became the first player in two years to win consecutive tournaments, duplicating Peter Jacobsen’s 1995 wins at the same two tournaments, the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the Buick Invitational.

O’Meara, who grew up playing Torrey Pines, had his troubles with the unforgiving 7,000-yard South Course, but not as much as everyone else. He played the back nine in 3-under, including a 22-foot eagle putt on 13 that gave him the lead and a pivotal 15-foot birdie putt on 17 that came while Craig Stadler and Jesper Parnevik were struggling with the deep rough on 18.

The heavy rough, fast greens and tough pin placements helped keep the winning score to 13-under 275, the highest in relation to par in five events this year.

Among those finishing tied for second at 11-under 277 were Stadler and Parnevik, a Swede still looking for his first U.S. victory.

Third-round leader Jay Don Blake quickly took himself out of contention with bogeys on five of the first six holes.

Asian Honda Classic

A beaming Tiger Woods won the Asian Honda Classic at Bangna, Thailand, by 10 strokes, receiving an embrace from his mother on the 18th green while a crowd of some 3,000 fans chanted his name.

Woods closed with a 4-under-par 68 for a total of 20-under 268. He earned $48,000 plus an appearance fee of $480,000 from the $300,0000 tournament played near Bangkok.

Woods’ closest rival was Mo Joong-kyung of South Korea at 278.

Senior LG Championship

Hale Irwin birdied three of his final five holes - including a 40-foot bunker shot on No. 15 - to earn a one-shot victory in the Senior PGA Tour’s $1 million LG Championship at Naples, Fla.

Irwin’s final-round 7-under-par 65 gave him a 54-hole total of 15-under-par 201, one shot better than runner-up Bob Murphy.

National Pro-Am

Kelly Robbins parred the second playoff hole to win the $500,000 National Pro-Am golf tournament at West Palm Beach, Fla.

Robbins two-putted from 12 feet at the par-4 10th hole to beat Emilee Klein, who fired a sensational nine-under par 63 on the 6,277-yard Legend course to catch the frontrunning Robbins at 17-under par 271.

Chris Johnson posted her second consecutive five-under par 67 to grab third at 13-under 275.

South African Open

Vijay Singh shot a three-under-par 69 at Johannesburg, South Africa, to hold off Nick Price and win the South African Open.

Singh’s total of 270 was 18 under par at the 7,408 yard par-72 Glendower course. Price, of Zimbabwe, finished at 271, four shots ahead of an African threesome of Mark McNulty, defending champion Ernie Els and Fulton Allem.