Zimmerman Catches Baugh, Wins With Birdies on Last Three Holes

One minute, Laura Baugh, the sentimental choice of locals and underdog fans alike, is two holes away from winning her first professional tournament, in this case, the Uniden LPGA Invitational at the Mesa Verde Country Club. The bubbly is on ice, the victory smile ready.

The next moment there is Mary Beth Zimmerman, collecting birdies as if they were on sale at the golf shop. Meanwhile, Baugh is finding trouble at every turn.

Before you could say $49,500 first prize, Zimmerman had her second consecutive LPGA victory and Baugh had enough heartache to last a lifetime.

In an improbable comeback, the quiet Zimmerman overcame the faltering Baugh with birdies on the final three holes Sunday and made what apparently is the last Uniden event at Mesa Verde one to remember.

Zimmerman, who began the day in second place four strokes behind Baugh, sank a five-foot uphill putt on the final hole for birdie and a deceiving one-under-par round of 71. Her four-day total of 281 (seven-under-par) was one stroke better than Baugh’s and Pat Bradley’s 282. Baugh took 76 cautious strokes Sunday while Bradley finished the tournament with a three-under-par 69. They each earned $26,400.

Val Skinner was next with a 283 total and a final round of 70. In all, only 10 players broke par for the week.

“I started out four shots behind today and I really didn’t think that I had a prayer in the world,” Zimmerman said. “On the front nine I didn’t play very good and I was two-over-par and I couldn’t make any birdies and the par putts weren’t falling. I just thought it was between Patty (Sheehan) and I and Pat and maybe Val Skinner for second place. I really thought Laura was playing good enough to win.

“Then she made a couple of bogeys and my caddy told me on the 17th fairway that I still had a chance to win,” Zimmerman said. “I still can’t believe it. It’s quite amazing.”

The tournament seemed to belong to Baugh and it took a bit of doing to lose, what with the four-stroke lead and a game that appeared solid and getting better. She had the swing, the putting and a vocal crowd following her each hole. Baugh, who makes Southern California her home, even had promised champagne for the press following a victory.

Baugh’s history had been well documented, too. Thirteen LPGA seasons without a victory . . . seven second-place finishes . . . $49,301 worth of winnings last year, her best ever. The Uniden would be different, it seemed. It wasn’t.

“I guess I choked, but I don’t really feel like (I did),” said Baugh, her voice cracking, her eyes teary. “I was more or less protecting what I thought I should. When push came to shove, it was OK because I thought I could still do it. Then Mary Beth birdied the last three holes, which was awesome, which was too much for me to keep up with.

“I wasn’t really nervous,” she said. “You find yourself trying to protect something that you shouldn’t protect. I know that because I’ve been out here long enough to know it. I tried to protect a lead and that is a serious problem. If I had gone out and just tried to play, I probably would have done real good. But I tried to protect what was not mine.”

Said Zimmerman: “You could see that maybe she was getting a little nervous.”

Even as Baugh was going around the front nine in three-over-par, there was no real reason for concern. Zimmerman and Sheehan, who were paired with Baugh Sunday, were struggling, too, three strokes back. Bradley had moved to five-under, but still had to play the tougher Mesa Verde back nine.

Baugh extended her lead to three strokes and then four strokes with birdies on Nos. 10 and 13. Zimmerman was the least of her worries five strokes back.

“I was just playing for second,” Zimmerman said. “There’s good money at second.”

Then Baugh bogeyed the par-4 No. 14 and the par-4 No. 15. Now the lead was just two strokes over Skinner and Bradley and three strokes over Zimmerman and Sheehan.

Baugh parred No. 16, a par 3, but it didn’t matter. Zimmerman hit a 4-iron to within 20 feet of the pin and then sank the putt for a birdie to go five-under.

Next, as Baugh hacked her drive on No. 17, a par 4, and ended up with a hard-fought bogey, Zimmerman put her second shot on the back fringe and later sank another 20-plus-footer for a birdie.

Bradley, too, had birdied No. 17 to force a three-way tie for the lead.

The final hole, a 175-yard par 3, decided the tournament. With Bradley watching in the wings (“To tell you the honest truth, I was really looking forward to a playoff.”) and most of the 14,500 gallery surrounding the green, Zimmerman selected a 3-iron. Then she hit what “was probably the best shot I’ve hit all week.”

The ball settled five feet from the pin.

Baugh’s shot landed on the front part of the green, some 30 feet away from the hole. Her putt slid 10 feet past the hole. “On 18, the first thing that went through my mind was, ‘Do not leave this putt short,’ ” said Baugh. “And I didn’t. And then the next thing that went through my mind is, ‘Make sure you make the second one.’ ”

The putt for par “looked a billion miles long,” she said.

She sank it to ensure herself of a playoff position if Zimmerman missed. But Zimmerman calmly struck her birdie and jumped about three-feet high when it dropped.

“I just wanted to get it over with,” she said.

She did, dramatically. Meanwhile, Baugh’s champagne was used by tournament officials for a party. Too bad Baugh couldn’t have been there.