Petrovic Delivers to Earn First PGA Tour Title

Draped in purple and gold Mardi Gras beads and clutching his silver trophy, Tim Petrovic was still in shock.

Twelve years after he went broke, gave up golf and went to work making and delivering pizzas, he had his first PGA Tour victory.

Petrovic completed the long journey by holing a four-foot par putt to beat rookie James Driscoll on the first hole of a playoff in the Zurich Classic at Avondale, La.

“That last putt seemed to take about 12 minutes to fall in,” Petrovic said. “I saw every dimple rolling over, and over, and over, and then it went in.”

Petrovic, 38, set up the breakthrough victory with a 19-foot birdie putt on the last hole of regulation, then finished off Driscoll with a routine par on the par-five closing hole on the 1-year-old TPC of Louisiana.

“I was pretty calm over it,” Petrovic said. “We looked at it real quick, but I didn’t want to walk around it for about five minutes. I just wanted to get in there and hit it.”

Petrovic, also a former newspaper deliverer whose 2002 entry on the tour came 14 years after he turned pro, shot a four-under-par 68 to match Driscoll at 13-under 275.

Driscoll, playing in the last group with Masters runner-up Chris DiMarco, had a 70, missing a four-foot birdie try for the victory on No. 18.

In 1993, the odds of Petrovic winning a tour title looked slim.

“I think I played 11 or 12 events and ran out of money on the Nike Tour,” Petrovic said.

The former University of Hartford player was out of tour golf until 1998, when the father of a friend helped him get back.

DiMarco, the third-round leader, bogeyed No. 18 to finish a stroke behind along with Lucas Glover. DiMarco, playing his first event since losing to Tiger Woods in a playoff at Augusta National, shot a 72. Glover had a 69.

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Stacy Prammanasudh won the Franklin American Mortgage Championship at Franklin, Tenn., for her first LPGA Tour title, birdieing Nos. 16 and 17 to pull away from defending champion Lorena Ochoa en route to a three-stroke victory.

Prammanasudh, the first first-time winner on the tour this season, closed with a three-under 69 for a 14-under 274.

Ochoa finished with a 70. Cristie Kerr (68), Christina Kim (69) and Catriona Matthew (71) tied for third at nine under.

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Jim Thorpe won his 10th career Champions Tour title, birdieing four of the last five holes for a four-stroke victory over Dana Quigley in the FedEx Kinko’s Classic at Lakeway, Texas.

Thorpe, 56, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour, shot a four-under 68 for a 10-under 206.

Quigley, part of a late four-way tie for the lead, finished with a 70. Mark Johnson (70) and Wayne Levi (73) tied for third at five under.

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Ernie Els ran away with the BMW Asian Open at Shanghai, finishing off a 13-stroke victory with a bogey-free seven-under 65 today.

Els, a three-time winner this year on the PGA European Tour, had a 26-under 262 in the event co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour.

Els opened with rounds of 67, 62 and 68 and had an eight-stroke lead through six holes in the final round Sunday when play was suspended because of rain and darkness.

Simon Wakefield (73) finished second.