Golf Roundup : Edwards Wins at Pensacola

Danny Edwards ended a two-year victory drought Sunday by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole and going on to win the $300,000 Pensacola Open by a stroke.

Edwards was tied with Gil Morgan and John Mahaffey at 14-under when he birdied the par-3, 194-yard 17th at Pensacola, Fla.

Edwards, of Edmond, Okla., two-putted from 10 feet at No. 18 for par, securing his fifth PGA victory and earning $54,000. Edwards finished with a 67 for a 15-under 269.

Morgan, who shot a 67, and Mahaffey, whose brilliant sand shot at No. 18 saved par and gave him a 66, tied for second at 270.

Meanwhile, Don Pooley won the 1985 Vardon Trophy for the golfer with the lowest average score over the entire 1985 PGA tour. Pooley, of Tucson, ended up with a 70.36 average for 97 rounds. Last year’s winner was Calvin Peete with a 70.56 average.

Pooley had come to Pensacola with the scoring lead at 70.40, just ahead of Lanny Wadkins at 70.48. Although Pooley shot only a par-71 round Sunday for a 278 final score, it was enough to beat Wadkins, who posted a season average of 70.44 after a final round 72 and 279 for the tournament.

At St. Andrew’s, Scotland, Greg Norman shot a stunning 65 to equal the course record as Australia beat the United States to become the first winner of golf’s richest tourney, the $1.2 million Dunhill Cup.

The Australian trio of Norman, Graham Marsh and David Graham was seeded No. 2 for the tourney, but posted a 3-0 victory over the top-seeded Americans, Mark O’Meara, Raymond Floyd and Curtis Strange.

Beth Daniel defeated Betsy King one-up to win the J&B; Gold Putter Award Playoff at the Desert Inn Country Club in Las Vegas.

The win earned Daniel $50,000 and made her the first two-time winner in the seven-year history of the tournament.

Daniel, 29, winner of Saturday’s winners’ bracket, came from three holes down in the 36-hole championship match. King, winner of the Sunday morning losers’ bracket, aced a 30-footer on the 13th hole to go three-up.

King, however, three-putted the 17th and 18th holes and was only one-up. Daniel evened the match by acing a 40-foot downhill putt on the 26th hole and took the lead when King missed a 3 1/2-footer to three-putt No. 31.

The pair two-putted the remaining five holes and Daniels took the victory.

Peter Thomson of Australia, four strokes off the lead with six holes left, rallied with three birdies to edge Charlie Sifford by a stroke and win a $165,000 seniors tournament at Melbourne, Fla.

Thomson shot a three-under-par 69 to finish with a nine-under 207 total over the 6,533-yard Suntree Country Club course.

With his ninth victory this year on the PGA Seniors Tour, Thomson raised his earnings to $374,224, the highest in a season by a senior player.

D.A. Weibring of the United States came from behind with a second consecutive six-under-par 65 and won the $280,000 Polaroid Cup Golf Digest Tournament by two strokes at Susono, Japan.