Angry Lopez Isn’t Slow to Finish; Wins by 8 Strokes

Nancy Lopez, turning her anger into motivation, shot a seven-under-par 65 Sunday to win the $250,000 LPGA Championship at Mason, Ohio, by eight strokes over Alice Miller.

Lopez, still irked over a two-stroke penalty she was assessed for slow play in Thursday’s opening round, finished with a 15-under-par 273, one shot off the tournament record set last year by Patty Sheehan.

“I still don’t think I should have gotten that penalty, and I was still mad today,” Lopez said. “But I was really motivated, so I was mad in a positive way.

“It was like I was by myself. I didn’t hear anything. It was just that little ball and me. It was a perfect day.”

As Lopez prepared to hit her final putt Sunday, she laughed out loud, “Does anybody know what time it is?”

Someone from the gallery replied, “Take all the time you want.”

Lopez and Miller had been tied for the lead at eight-under after 54 holes. Miller settled for a one-over-par 73 and a total of 281, seven under.

Lopez earned $37,500 to increase her earnings for the year to $155,103, while Miller collected $22,500 for second place to push her leading money total to $216,750 this year.

Bill Glasson, bumped from the tour last year for failing to make the top 150 money winners, won the $500,000 Kemper Open, sinking a 50-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole.

His six-under-par 66 at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., gave him a 10-under-par 278 for a one-stroke margin over Larry Mize, the third-round leader, and Corey Pavin.

It was Glasson’s first victory on the PGA tour and it added $90,000 to his previous 1985 earnings of $55,276.

“If you would have told me I had to hit it to win the tournament, I probably would have put it in the lake,” Glasson said of the decisive putt. “I guess it was in the cards for me today.”

Glasson, after losing his card, requalified for the tour last fall. In 1984, he was the driving distance champion with an average of better than 276 yards.

Mize finished with a 73. Pavin had a 69.

At Castle Rock, Colo., Lee Elder survived a near-disastrous double bogey on the 18th hole to hold off Peter Thomson and win the Denver Post Champions of Golf seniors tournament by one stroke.

Elder went into the final hole with a three-shot advantage on Thomson, but hit his drive into the water. He missed the green with his third shot, chipped to 10 feet and needed two putts to get down.

Elder finished with a four-over-par 76 for a total of three-under 213. He pocketed $30,000, although his 76 was the highest final round by a winner of a senior tournament.

Thomson had a 73 for a 214 total. Billy Casper, with a final-round 72, was at 216. Arnold Palmer had a 77 and finished at 217.