GOLF ROUNDUP : Player Tightens Up, but Still Wins by Two

The weather was windy, two challengers were hot, and Gary Player was struggling to keep his cool.

He did it, shooting a three-under-par 68 Sunday to win the senior tour’s Royal Caribbean Classic at Key Biscayne, Fla., by two shots over Lee Trevino, Bob Charles and Chi Chi Rodriguez.

“I was feeling the pressure quite a bit, I must say,” said a relieved Player, who was never out of first place in the final round. “I’d hate to take an X-ray of my stomach right now.”

Player set a tournament record with his total of 13-under 200. He pocketed $67,500 for his 16th senior tour title, which was in doubt until he got up and down from a bunker to par the final hole.

“Boy, I tell you, I was choking at 18,” Player said with a smile. “I was choking like a dog.”

Despite stiff winds and occasional rain, Trevino and Charles each shot a closing 66. They finished in a second-place tie with Rodriguez at 202.

Charles birdied six of the first 12 holes to briefly forge a tie at 12 under. Player then made short birdie putts at the 11th and 14th holes, and Charles missed a three-foot putt to bogey No. 15 and fall three shots behind.

Trevino, who rallied from five shots back with three holes left to win last year’s tournament, had consecutive birdies on holes 14 through 16. But he could get no closer than two strokes.

Player’s score on the Links at Key Biscayne broke the record of 202 set by Lee Elder in 1988, the second year of the tournament. Player, 55, said his jitters were not unusual.

“It gets worse as you get older,” the South African said. “Why do you think Arnold Palmer doesn’t win as much as he used to? His nerves aren’t as good.”

Starting the day with a two-shot lead, Player didn’t look shaky when he birdied the first two holes and made another birdie at No. 5 with a 45-foot putt from the fringe.

“Gary’s a grinder and works hard,” Trevino said. “He’s a 55-year-old with a 40-year-old body. He can still putt, too.”

Player fell to 12 under when he bogeyed No. 9 after driving into mangroves that line the fairway. His lead was down to two after he hit a bad chip and bogeyed No. 15. But he parred out.

“To win means so much,” Player said. “I’ve now won 157 times, but I must have been second 60 times, and the only ones who know about those are my wife and my dog.”

Rodriguez, who began the day in second place, had several chances to gain on Player. But he missed birdie putts of four feet at the first and sixth holes, was never closer than two shots and finished with a 68.

“The ugliest words in the English language are, ‘What if,’ ” Rodriguez said. “The prettiest words are, ‘Next time.’ ”

Meg Mallon held onto her two-stroke lead when heavy rains halted play during the fourth round of the $400,000 LPGA event at Lake Worth, Fla., extending the final round to today.

Mallon, seeking her first tour victory, started the round at 11-under-par 205, two strokes ahead of Betsy King and three in front of a group that included 1989 tournament winner Dottie Mochrie and Hiromi Kobayashi of Japan, last season’s rookie of the year.

Mallon birdied the first hole on the Wycliffe Golf and Country Club course with a five-wood approach shot and a three-foot putt. King bogeyed the hole after missing the green with her approach.

Mallon got in seven holes before the rain came, and stood at even par with two birdies and two bogeys.

“I feel like I’ve gotten some tough holes out of the way,” Mallon said. “No. 8 will be a good starting hole.”

King birdied the second hole but reached water on the third and dropped to seven under, tied with defending champion Pat Bradley and rookie Dana Lofland. King had three bogeys and one birdie.

“I didn’t hit the ball great. I felt my experience kept me as close as I am. I’ll need about five birds in the next 11 holes to win,” King said. “The rain delay is a bad break for Meg. She has to wait until tomorrow.”

Mochrie had two birdies against a lone bogey through seven holes to get within two strokes of Mallon. Kobayashi fell five strokes back after bogeys on the first two holes.

Tied three strokes back at eight under par were Amy Alcott, who needs two more victories to qualify for the association’s Hall of Fame, and LPGA non-winners Laurel Kean and Donna Andrews.

Alcott birdied the fourth hole and finished the front nine in one-under 35. Kean had seven pars before being rained out and Andrews had one birdie and one bogey through eight holes.

Bradley had two birdies on the front before a bogey on No. 9 that left her at seven under with King and Lofland, who started her day with a double bogey.