Record Wins For Irwin
Golf
Hale Irwin fired a course record 9-under-par 62 Sunday to rally from a five-stroke deficit and edge Hubert Green by one stroke for the Toshiba Senior Classic title at Newport Beach, Calif.
Irwin’s 13-under-par total of 200 gave the 1997 Senior PGA Player of the Year his first tournament win of 1998 and earned him $165,000 for the three-day event.
“One of my more memorable final rounds on either tour,” Irwin said. “Anytime you can make 10 birdies, you know you’ve played well.”
Green, who started Sunday with the huge lead, had to a chance to tie Irwin on the 18th hole. But he left his wedge shot 15 feet short and finished with a birdie for a final-round 68 and 201 total.
“Great players get great breaks,” Green said. “And then they make the most of them. Hale had the great effort of the day. Everyone else just played mediocre golf.”
Calcavecchia triumphs
Mark Calcavecchia made five birdies on the final seven holes to run away from Vijay Singh and the rest of the field at the Honda Classic, closing with a 65 for a three-stroke victory in Coral Springs, Fla.
Calcavecchia, who had promised to go at every pin, didn’t have a choice on a calm, soft day ripe for low scores. He kept his pledge to the end, firing at the flag on the 18th for a birdie that put him at 18-under 271.
His ninth PGA Tour victory was worth $324,000 and made him only the 11th player to surpass $8 million in career earnings.
Colin Montgomerie finished with a 66. He was alone in third at 275, but still 0 for 46 on the PGA Tour.
John Daly rebounded from a 76 in the second round with great play on the weekend. He tied the course record of 8-under 64 and wound up tied for fourth with Jeff Maggert and defending champion Stuart Appleby.
Alfredsson prevails
Helen Alfredsson overcame a daylong struggle with her short game in time to sink a 3-foot birdie putt on the last hole and win the Welch’s-Circle K Championship by one stroke In Tucson, Ariz.
The dramatic finish came minutes after Dana Dormann two-putted from 18 inches to bogey No. 18 and finish second with a 13-under 275.
Alfredsson, rejuvenated after surgery 14 months ago to fix a detached hamstring in her right leg, shot even-par 72, starting and finishing the round at 14-under.
Her 72-hole score of 274 was only two shots off the tournament record - evidence of the big lead the 32-year-old Swede compiled in the first three rounds.
Australian victor
Stephen Leaney, an Australian playing his first full season on the European Tour, shot a 5-under-par 67 to capture the Moroccan Open by eight strokes with 271 in Agadir, Morocco. Sweden’s Robert Karlsson shot a 71 to take second, with a 9-under 279.