Golf Roundup : Switch-Hitting Crenshaw Shoots 68, Wins by 1

Ben Crenshaw, showing he is fully recovered from an illness that almost ended his pro golf career, shot a final-round 68 Sunday to win the $500,000 Buick Open with an 18-under-par score of 270 at Grand Blanc, Mich.

Crenshaw, who hadn’t won since the 1984 Masters, finished one stroke ahead of hard-charging J.C. Snead and Doug Tewell to earn $90,000 and the use of a Buick for one year.

Crenshaw’s biggest test came on No. 13, a 490-yard, par-5. He hit his second shot under a pine tree and couldn’t get to the ball in his natural stance. He turned a club over and, playing left-handed with the back of the club, knocked the ball onto the green about three feet from the pin.

He sank the putt for a birdie, bringing a thunderous roar from the crowd at the 7,014-yard Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club.

Snead and Tewell, both shooting 66 in the final round, finished at 271. Tewell had a 31 on the front nine but managed only one birdie the rest of the way.

Another shot back at 272 was Ed Fiori (67) while rookie Davis Love III, who led or shared first place the first three rounds, finished at 273 after a 71. Bobby Wadkins (68) also closed at 273.

It was the 11th PGA Tour victory for Crenshaw and established him as a threat to challenge British Open champion Greg Norman at the PGA Championship in nearby Toledo, Ohio, in two weeks.

Crenshaw suffered a hyperactive thyroid condition that caused him to lose 18 pounds and weakened him to the point where he could play only 23 tournaments in 1985, when he failed to record a single top 10 finish and earned only $25,814.

Pat Bradley sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat hard-charging Ayako Okamoto of Japan and successfully defend her title in the $353,000 du Maurier tournament at Woodbridge, Canada.

Bradley got off to a spectacular start, getting birdies on five of the first six holes on the 6,107-yard Board of Trade course. She finished at six-under-par 66 for a 72-hole total of 276.

But she had to sink a birdie on the final hole of regulation to force the playoff.

Okamoto, who began the final round two shots behind Bradley and three shots behind third-round leader Chris Johnson, closed with a burst of birdies for a tournament-tying low round of 64.

“It was extremely exciting,” Bradley said. “I just wish the U.S. Open was in August.”

She was alluding to the one Grand Slam event on the tour that eluded her this year. The U.S. Open was played two weeks ago.

Bradley won the Dinah Shore tournament and the LPGA Championship before finishing fifth in the U.S. Open. The du Maurier is the fourth and final Grand Slam tournament.

Nancy Scranton, who fired a 64 Friday to set a 36-hole record of 134 before soaring to a 78 Saturday, rebounded with a 69 to finish at 281 and a third-place tie with Betsy King. King closed with a 71.

Bradley earned $52,500 to raise her 1986 earnings to $379,496 and her career winnings to $2,174,693. She is the only tour player to reach the $2 million mark.

Bruce Crampton birdied the 16th and 17th holes and shot a one-under-par 71 to win the $200,000 MONY-Syracuse Senior tournament by one stroke at Jamesville, N.Y.

Crampton had a 54-hole total of 10-under-par 206. Tying for second at 207 were Chi Chi Rodriquez (66), Roberto de Vicenzo (67) and Orville Moody (71).

Crampton won $30,000 to increase his season’s winnings to $199,730. He has won two tournaments in his first full season on the PGA Seniors Tour.

Severiano Ballesteros of Spain won the Dutch Open for the second time, exactly 10 years after he scored his first international victory in the same event.

Ballesteros won by eight strokes with a nine-under-par 271 after a final round of 68 at Noordwijk, Netherlands.

With the victory, his fifth this year and the 49th of his career, the 29-year-old Ballesteros became the first European golfer to earn more than 1 million pounds ($1.4 million) in career prize money. First place was worth $32,895.

Fellow Spaniard Jose Rivero finished second at 279 after a 72.

Ballesteros will play next in the PGA Championship starting Aug. 7.

“I am looking forward to it,” he said. “It is two years since I won a major and I feel in the mood to end that run.”