Aoki Has No Excuses After Fading at End : Ojai golf: He acknowledges that he choked, allowing Geiberger to win senior tournament.

OJAI —  Golfers have all kinds of excuses for losing. They blame clubs, poor greens, a bad lie, a noisy crowd. . . .

But when Isao Aoki, after making a sensational rally Sunday to take the lead in the final round of the $500,000 GTE Classic, lost to Al Geiberger, he told it as he saw it.

“I choked,” he said in Japanese. And when his interpreter, his caddie, didn’t want to say it in English, they had an argument.

Aoki, who trailed George Archer by four shots and Geiberger by three after 36 holes, burned up the front side of the 6,190-yard Ojai Valley Inn & Country Club course with a record 29 to take the lead.

With an eagle on the ninth hole and another birdie on 10, Aoki, who became eligible for the Senior PGA Tour last September, had put together a sensational string.

Excellent putting helped him go six under in six holes, beginning with the fifth hole. He had four birdies, two of them on putts of more than 24 feet, a par and the eagle on the 517-yard ninth hole. The powerful golfer hit a three-iron 215 yards to reach the ninth green, then made a 12-foot putt for the eagle and the 29.

By this time, Aoki led by two shots. But Geiberger, who finished the 54 holes with a 12-under 198 to win by two shots, birdied eight to cut the lead to a stroke.

Aoki’s collapse came on the 15th and 16th, and suddenly he was in second place.

“I was trying to win,” he said, in English, “but I choked. I hit my only bad drive on 15, and that was when the trouble started.”

Geiberger, who was suffering from allergies, he thought, became the second ailing golfer to win at Ojai in the last three years. Two years ago, a rainout on Friday allowed Chi Chi Rodriguez to recover from flu and he won the 36-hole event.

“Beware the sick man,” Geiberger said. “He’ll either win or play terrible. I’ll tell you why.

“It’s hot and you feel miserable. All you want to do is get the round over with. So it takes the pressure off you. That’s what happened today.

“Aoki is a fine golfer and he sneaks up on you. When I saw he had gone 10, 11 and 12 under, I figured he would probably go 13, 14 and 15. That’s the way he plays, and I was resigned to trying to hold second.

“I was so busy getting up and down from bunkers on 11, 12 and 14, I didn’t notice that Aoki, playing two groups ahead of me, had made two bogeys and I was ahead.”

Geiberger, despite the way he was feeling, shot a final round 66, four under par. Aoki, with his 65, tied for second, at 10-under 200, with Archer, whose usually superb putting touch deserted him. Rodriguez, who missed a three-foot putt on 18, shot the best round of the final day, a seven-under 63, and was fourth at 201.

Tom Weiskopf, in his first official senior tour event, was a respectable fifth with a 202 total and earned $24,000.

Although both he and Gary Player faded in the final round, Arnold Palmer finished at 204, six under. It was his best tournament in years and served to resurrect Arnie’s Army. His fans were out in amazing numbers, overrunning the picturesque course in the hills above Ventura.

The argument between Aoki and his caddie, Andy Wada, ended peacefully. But before they left the media tent arm in arm, Wada muttered in English: “I think I’ll stick to caddying.”