Golf Roundup : Chip Is on the Money, Helps Langer Pocket $72,000 at Heritage

Bernhard Langer had a feeling when he walked off the 12th green Sunday.

That was right after his 30-foot chip shot went in the hole for a birdie in the $400,000 Heritage tournament at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

“When the ball went in the hole, I thought, ‘I will win this golf tournament,’ ” Langer said. “It was a fantastic shot. That was the break I needed. That made me think I could win it.”

It took considerably more work before Langer put away Bobby Wadkins in a playoff to win $72,000 and add the Heritage title to his Masters victory last week.

The 27-year-old West German, the first from his country to win one of golf’s major titles, and Wadkins, seeking his first American tour title after playing his 11-year career in the shadow of his brother, Lanny, finished the regulation 72 holes at 273, 11 under par.

Langer had a 70 that included various adventures with trees over the 18 holes, which Wadkins played in a solid 68 that included no bogeys and a closing string of 12 consecutive pars.

Wadkins, whose only previous victories came in the European Open in 1978 and in Japan the following year, did not miss a fairway, did not make a bogey and missed only two greens.

But that no-bogey string came to an end on the first playoff hole, the dogleg, par-4 16th.

Both drove into the fairway. Wadkins, however, put his second shot into the right bunker. Langer reached the front of the green.

Wadkins hit his bunker shot 12 feet short of the cup. Langer, using his cross-handed putting style, left a birdie putt on the lip of the cup, and tapped in for par. Wadkins missed on the right and Langer was a winner, the first man since Gary Player in 1978 to follow the Masters with a victory the next week.

“I know he must have had a little letdown after winning last week,” Wadkins said. “To come here, and play extremely well, like he did, my hat’s off to him.”

With the victory, Langer joined Mark O’Meara, Curtis Strange, Calvin Peete and Lanny Wadkins as two-time winners in 1985.

Hal Sutton and Tim Norris tied for third at 274 after each shot a final-round 67.

Mike Smith was next at 67-275 and Larry Nelson at 70-276.

The group at 277 included Danny Edwards, Larry Mize, Jim Thorpe and Dan Pohl. Thorpe and Pohl had 70s, Mize a scrambling 72 and Edwards a 73.

Patty Sheehan held off challenging Alice Miller with an even-par 72 for a tournament record-tying 14-under-par 275 and a two-stroke victory in the $200,000 J&B; Scotch Pro-Am at Las Vegas.

Miller, who could have won a $1 million bonus with a victory at the Desert Inn Country Club, closed to within two strokes of Sheehan on three occasions but could not get closer. She finished with a final-round 69 for 277.

She started the day five strokes back but had to settle for the second-place prize of $18,500.

Sheehan posted her second Ladies Professional Golf Assn. victory of 1985, and the $30,000 check boosted her official career earnings to within $2,408 of the $1 million mark. A pro since 1981, she won a $500,000 bonus last year for two consecutive victories on the women’s golf tour.

Pat Bradley finished third with a 69 for 279 and won $13,500. Tied for fourth at 282 were Kathy Postlewait with a final-round 71, and Beth Solomon, at 72. Nancy Lopez, twice the winner of this event, shot a final-round 73 for 283.

Sheehan parred the final nine holes. Miller birdied the 10th and 13th, each time with a putt of about 12 feet, but missed a three-footer at No. 15 for a bogey that virtually killed her hopes of winning the $1-million bonus.