Golf Roundup : Bean Wins a Green-Bean Playoff on 4th Extra Hole

Hubert Green left the door open and Andy Bean slammed it shut.

Bean rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt on the fourth extra hole to win the Doral-Eastern Open Sunday at Miami after Green bogeyed three of the last four holes of regulation.

“I was glad to see it won by a birdie,” Green said. “It wasn’t very good to see professional golfers scrambling around like we were doing, three-putting and hitting into the water.”

Bean, a runner-up last week, and Green, the PGA champion, finished the regulation 72 holes at 276, 12 shots under par on Doral’s Blue Monster course.

The victory was worth $90,000 from the total purse of $500,000. Green won $54,000.

Green played the last 18 holes of regulation in par 72, despite his struggle over the final four. Bean shot 69 in gusty winds for his 10th career victory and first since the 1984 Greensboro Open.

Bean, who won the Doral for the third time, seemed destined to win in regulation after Green’s tee shot on the 18th hole went into the water. However, Green recovered momentarily by sinking a 15-foot putt for a bogey to tie Bean.

“It was a great putt, a gutty putt,” Bean said. “I knew it was in the moment he hit it.”

Green, the third-round leader, had a two-shot lead with four holes left in regulation, but he bogeyed the 15th and 16th to let Bean and Tom Kite back into the hunt.

Kite missed his chance for a spot in the playoff when his putter went sour over the last few holes. His 71 left him one shot behind at 277, tied with Mark O’Meara. O’Meara had a 66 and scattered 10 3s across his card.

Juli Inkster shot a two-under-par 70 for a 72-hole total of 276 to win the $300,000 Women’s Kemper Open by a stroke over Amy Alcott at Princeville, Hawaii.

Inkster, who earned $45,000, started the final round over the 6,210-yard Princeville Makai Course on the island of Kauai in a tie with Marci Bozarth and fell behind by two strokes on the front nine, but birdied the 10th and 11th holes to take the lead for good.

Next stop on the LPGA tour is the $250,000 GNA/Glendale Federal tournament, which begins Thursday at Oakmont Country Club in Glendale.

On Sunday, Alcott shot a final-round 69, including a birdie on the 72nd hole, to take second place, one stroke ahead of Bozarth and Chris Johnson. Bozarth had a closing 72 and Johnson a 70.

JoAnne Carner made the day’s biggest charge, shooting a 66 to finish alone in fifth place at 279.