GOLF ROUNDUP : Price Has No Trouble, Wins Second in Row

Nick Price easily turned back Greg Norman’s late challenge and scored his second consecutive victory Sunday in the Western Open at Lemont, Ill.

Price, who won last week at Hartford, Conn., led from the start after shooting a 64 and won by five strokes. His final round 67 gave him a 19-under 269.

Price, who grew up in Zimbabwe and now lives in Orlando, Fla., became the first $1-million winner of the year and the first since Davis Love III, 14 months ago, to win consecutive tournaments. First place was worth $216,000.

Price started the final round with a two-shot lead and birdied four of the first six holes.

“When he made all those birdies on the front nine, that slammed the door on me,” Norman said. “Nickie just blew me out of the water.”

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Simon Hobday of South Africa shot a five-under-par 66 to win the $850,000 Kroger Senior Classic at Mason, Ohio, by one stroke. It was his first victory on the senior tour.

The former cattle farmer and car salesman in Zambia finished the three rounds in 11-under 202, one stroke ahead of defending champion Gibby Gilbert, Bob Reith and Mike Hill.

Hobday says he blew at least 10 tournaments in 1991, the year he joined the senior tour, six last year and already four this year.

“I’ve snatched defeat from the jaws of victory hundreds of times,” Hobday said. “I led two weeks ago at Minneapolis going into the final round and I never holed a putt outside two feet. They went by me like a herd of turtles.”

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Brandie Burton birdied three of the first five holes en route to a four-under-par 67 and a victory in the LPGA Jamie Farr Classic at Perryburg, Ohio.

Burton, who beat a charging Hollis Stacy by one stroke, finished with a three-round total of 12-under 201, breaking the mark of 205 set by Tina Purtzer in 1990 and Alice Miller in 1991.

The victory at Highland Meadows Golf Club was the second of Burton’s career. She won $67,500 from a $450,000 purse.

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Nick Faldo shot a course-record 65 and then won a one-hole playoff with Jose Maria Olazabal for his third consecutive Irish Open title at Kilkenny, Ireland. Faldo is only the second player in Europe in the past 37 years to win an event three consecutive times. Ian Woosnam won the Monte Carlo Open from 1990-92.