This Time, Perry Doesn’t Lose Hope

Two weeks after blowing the lead in the final round at Pebble Beach, Kenny Perry shot a 2-under-par 70 on Sunday to win the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic by one stroke over David Duval at Palm Desert, Calif.

Perry, 34, got his third tour victory, and a $216,000 check, despite shooting par from the seventh hole on at Bermuda Dunes. The first-round leader, he finished the 90-hole tournament at 25-under 335. Duval shot a 69.

At Pebble Beach, Perry led the AT&T National Pro-Am by three strokes after three rounds. But he shot par and finished in a tie for third with Davis Love III, behind winner Peter Jacobsen and Duval.

This time, it was Curtis Strange’s turn to fall apart. Strange, winless since the 1989 U.S. Open, birdied Nos. 12 and 13 to tie Perry at 25-under. But he bogeyed two of the last three holes, including No. 18 when he hit into a large pond that guards the right front of the green.

Strange also shot 70, and finished in a three-way tie for third with Tommy Tolles and Dillard Pruitt.

Robert Gamez shot 66 to finish at 22-under 338. Tied for seventh at 339 were Tommy Armour III, Kelly Gibson, Donnie Hammond, Mark Brooks and Harry Taylor, who led after the second and third rounds.

Kirk Triplett of Pullman, Wash., finished with a 68 for a total of 342 and a nine-way tie for 16th place. He earned $15,760.

Seniors

Powered by a sand wedge for eagle on the par-4 fifth hole, Dave Stockton shot a final-round 68 to win the Senior PGA Tour’s GTE Suncoast Classic at Lutz, Fla., by two strokes.

Stockton’s three-day total of 9-under-par 204 was two strokes better than runners-up Jim Colbert, Bob Charles and J.C. Snead. Another shot back were Jack Nicklaus, Simon Hobday and Bruce Lehnhard.

Following the eagle, Stockton added two birdies and one bogey to complete the front nine, then rolled off nine straight pars on the back nine of the Tournament Players Club of Tampa Bay for his 10th career seniors victory.

“I can’t believe nobody made a move at me,” Stockton said. “When I made the eagle, I said, `Well boys, you’ve got to come get me now,’ and I figured they would.”

Lexington PGA

At Johannesburg, South Africa, Ernie Els shot a 6-under-par 64 and won the $400,000 Lexington PGA golf championship, his fifth victory in five months.

Els, winner of the U.S. Open last June, finished with a 9-under total of 271.

Roger Wessels, another South African, also carded a 64 and finished second at 273.

Aussie Masters

Australian Peter Senior won his second Australian Masters championship, holding off Tom Watson, Wayne Grady and third-round leader Lucas Parsons by a stroke at Melbourne, Australia.