Simpson Captures Playoff
Golf
Scott Simpson came from eight strokes back in the final round with a closing 64, then birdied the first sudden-death hole to defeat Skip Kendall and win the rain-shortened Buick Invitational at San Diego.
Simpson, winning for the first time since the 1993 Byron Nelson Classic, chipped beautifully from a buried lie in the right rough on No. 18 - the first playoff hole - to 4 feet and rolled in the putt for a birdie.
Kendall, trying for his first PGA Tour victory in 108 starts, had a 25-foot eagle putt on the 498-yard par-5, but left it 3 feet short and then yanked his birdie try left to end a long, sloppy week of golf.
“I’m not going to lie, it hurts,” Kendall said. “But I’m happy with what I did this morning to get into the playoff.”
Simpson and Kendall finished 54 holes at 12 under par, one stroke better than Tiger Woods, Davis Love III and Kevin Sutherland.
All three had a reasonable shot at getting into the playoff.
Woods left a 40-foot eagle putt short on the final hole. Love’s chip for eagle from 50 feet on No. 18 missed by inches. And Sutherland missed a 12-foot birdie try on the hole.
Pullman’s Kirk Triplett shot a 74 for a 215 total.
Morgan comes back
At Naples, Fla., Gil Morgan, who started the day five shots behind, claimed his second victory of the season with a dramatic chip-in eagle on the par-5 finishing hole to take the $180,000 Senior LG Championship.
Morgan finished at 210, 6-under-par and two shots better than Dale Douglass (69) and Raymond Floyd (71).
Second-round leader Jim Albus, looking for his first victory since 1995 after two injury-plagued seasons, fell out of contention with a 77.
Ells makes it 3 straight
At Durban, South Africa’s Ernie Els won his third South African Open by three shots over compatriot David Frost.
Els shot a final round 69 for a 273 total. Frost finished with a 71 for 276.
Els laughed at suggestions he could match the 13 South African Open victories by Gary Player.
“Perhaps I might get near the nine of Bobby Locke, but even that would take some doing,” Els said. “Anyhow, I think three is good.”
It’s Norman’s tourney
Seven strokes behind after a distracting second round in which his name surfaced in the White House scandal, Greg Norman rallied Sunday to win his own tournament, the Greg Norman International at Sydney, Australia.
Norman started the last round a stroke behind Jose Maria Olazabal and beat the 1994 Masters champion by two strokes.
Norman closed with a 5-under-par 67 for 272 total, to win for the first time in the six years of this event.