Golf Roundup : Wadkins Wins the Doral With Help of an Eagle

Lanny Wadkins scored an eagle-2 during a front-running round of 70 that carried him to a three-stroke victory in the Doral Open at Miami Sunday.

Wadkins claimed the 16th victory of his 17-year PGA career with a 277 total, 11 shots under par on the wind-swept Blue Monster course at the Doral Country Club.

Wadkins’ first victory since 1985 was worth $180,000 from the total purse of $1 million and boosted his earnings for the season to $264,825.

The 37-year-old held a two-shot lead when the day’s play began in 25 m.p.h. winds, and increased the margin to four when he holed out a wedge shot from the fifth fairway for an eagle-2.

He led by five at the turn, but was put under pressure by the late charge of Seve Ballesteros of Spain.

Ballesteros, twice a Masters champion and a two-time winner of the British Open, closed to within three strokes of the lead with birdies on the 15th and 16th.

Ballesteros got his drive on the 17th behind some palm trees in the left rough.

But he played a spectacular hook around the palms and put the ball within four feet of the cup.

He needed that putt to close to within two shots of the lead, but he missed it, and the only major challenge to Wadkins was over.

“It was apparent that no one was putting any heat on him,” Tom Kite said. “I missed three short putts (each about three feet in length) that really hurt. The way Lanny was playing, I needed to make everything.”

Kite put a birdie-birdie finish on a round of 68 that lifted him into a tie for second with Ballesteros and Don Pooley at 280. Ballesteros had a closing 68, Pooley a 70.

David Edwards was alone at 281 after a 67.

Bruce Lietzke, J.C. Snead and Fred Couples tied at 282. Lietzke moved up with a 69, Snead had a 70 and Couples a 71.

Jack Nicklaus, never really in the hunt, had a last-round 70 and finished at 286. Tom Watson was two strokes better at 284 after a 71. U.S. Open champion Ray Floyd struggled to a 77 and a 294 total.

Bob Tway recorded a horrendous 10 on the seventh hole on the way to a 79 and a 296 total. His shot from a fairway bunker came off the lip, back into the sand and struck Tway, costing him a two-shot penalty. His next shot went into another fairway bunker, and his sixth was into a greenside bunker. He got out, and then three-putted.

Jane Geddes, one stroke off the pace to begin the day, bogeyed the first hole of sudden death, but still managed to win the $300,000 Women’s Kemper Open at Princeville, Hawaii, because of a double-bogey by Cathy Gerring.

Geddes and Gerring completed the regulation 72 holes at the Princeville Makai Golf Course on Kauai tied at 12-under-par 276.

On the first playoff hole, the par-4, 355-yard 15th hole, both Geddes and Gerring hit their second shots into the left bunker. Geddes managed to hit her next shot on the fringe, 20 feet short of the pin, while Gerring put her third shot into the right bunker.

Geddes then two-putted for bogey. Gerring chipped up to two feet from the pin, but took two strokes to sink it, giving Geddes the victory and $45,000.

“Maybe it wasn’t meant to be my tournament,” Gerring said after her double-bogey. “On the putt on the playoff hole, to be honest, I was thinking about the 16th tee and wasn’t thinking hard enough about the putt.”

Geddes, who went into the final round one stroke behind Gerring, birdied the par-5, 480-yard third hole and eagled the par-5, 445-yard sixth hole, making the turn at 3-under 33. On the back nine, she birdied No. 11, but bogeyed the 13th and 16th holes to finish the round with a 70.

Gerring, who has yet to win in three sudden-death playoffs, led the first three rounds of the tournament. She had a 71 final round.

In third place at 8-under 280 was Ayako Okamoto, followed by Jan Stephenson at 284. Tied for fifth were Nancy Lopez and Muffin Spencer-Devlin at 286.