Playoff Goes Tway’s Way in San Diego

Golf is a taxing sport, even if you aren’t preoccupied with the Internal Revenue Service.

For Masters champion Bernhard Langer, some complicated tax matters seemed more vexing than a sudden-death playoff loss to Bob Tway here Sunday in the Shearson Lehman Brothers Andy Williams Open.

Langer’s problem--he wants to avoid paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra taxes--arises from his status as a West German citizen. Under new IRS rules, if he stays in the United States more than 122 days this qear, he would face a stiff tax bill here as well as back in West Germany.

The issue is further complicated by a requirement of the pro golf tour, which dictates that a player must appear in 15 tournaments to keep his tour card. Langer doesn’t think he can make 15 tournaments in 122 days, and hopes the IRS will soften its stance.

All this came up as Langer reviewed his defeat by Tway on the second playoff hole at Torrey Pines.

Langer seemed as if he could use some counsel from the brokerage firm that sponsors the tournament.

High finance was a far more satisfying subject for Tway, who earned $81,000 for his first professional victory. Langer received $48,600.

“It’s an undescribable feeling,” said Tway, who had earned $164,023 as a tour rookie last year.

“You play all your life and work endless hours for a moment like this, and sure enough it finally came. I’m just pleased to death. I may not need a plane to get to Hawaii (the next stop on the tour).”

Tway, a three-time college All-American at Oklahoma State, separated his name from a cluster of little-known players in contention at the beginning of the rain-shortened 54-hole tournament.

Going into Sunday’s final round, Tway was tied with Danny Edwards, one shot behind Larry Mize.

There were 24 players within three shots of the lead as the final round began under sunny, breezy conditions, which contrasted with the rain and cold that wiped out Saturday’s play. That was the first rained-out round in the tournament’s 35-year history.

“The names were flip-flopping all around on the leader boards,” said Tway, who kept an eye on the competition.

“I pay attention to the boards because I like to know where I stand and how my buddies are doing.”

Tway said he was hoping to finish at 14-under-par and take his chances that he could win with that total. As it turned out, he would have won by two shots in regulation if he had reached his goal.

But the tournament’s third playoff in three years developed as Tway bogeyed the 17th hole and parred the 18th when a 30-foot birdie putt slid six feet past the hole.

If he had missed that six-footer, Tway would have forfeited a chance to tie Langer, but his nerves appeared solid as he gripped the putter.

“I’ve been in a situation like that (with a short putt) thousands of times,” he said. “You tell yourself, ‘Step up, keep your head down and just stroke it.’ ”

The playoff matched the relatively inexperienced Tway against a man who had won the 1985 Masters and owned 17 tournament wins on six continents.

Tway prevailed with a par on the par-3 16th, the second hole of sudden death. Langer missed a five-foot putt for par that would have extended the match.

“This win probably will do more for Bob than it would have for me,” Langer said graciously.

“The 68 I had today easily could have been 65 or 66. The ball was pretty much under control today, and I only hit one or two bad shots.”

Such was not the case for Mize, whose hopes for a second career win were killed by a final-round 75.

And he wasn’t alone among the numerous longshots who had a chance at victory. One by one, they fell out of the lead in a sorrowful sequence: Mize, Edwards, and Paul Azinger. And more than a dozen others within striking distance also faded.

For Tway, though, it was a day that could help shape him into a force on the tour.

“This opens so many doors--the Tournament of Champions, the Masters, and so many other possibilities,” he said. “They say the first win is the biggest and makes the others easier.”

Tway knows he won’t become a household name on the basis of one win. But he’s used to folks puzzling over his name, anyway.

“The name is Irish and Welsh,” he said. “It was shortened from something else, although I couldn’t tell you what. No one could pronounce the original, and they can’t still pronounce it.”

The name--it rhymes with “way”--is a bit less taxing for the average fan than Langer.

For the West German, the more relevant issue is in the hands of the IRS.

“I would be taxed on worldwide income in the U.S. and Germany if I stayed in this country more than 122 days,” he said. “And I think that’s unfair. I hope they will review it.”

Under earlier regulations, he could have remained in the United States for 182 days without the extra consequences, Langer said.