Golf Roundup : Simpson Recovers and Wins

Scott Simpson birdied two of the last four holes Sunday to score a two-stroke victory over Clarence Rose in the Greater Greensboro Open golf tournament at Greensboro, N.C.

“When you haven’t won for a while, it’s tough to get up there and keep it going,” said Simpson, who became a winner for the first time in three years. “But my game’s been coming around all year.”

Simpson shot a two-under-par 70 for a 282 total and picked up a check for $108,000. It was Simpson’s first victory since the Westchester tournament in 1984 and his third in nine years on the PGA Tour.

He also earned a spot in the Masters, which begins Thursday at Augusta, Ga.

Payne Stewart, who fell back with a double bogey and a bogey on the front nine, had a 70 and was tied for third place at 285 with Tom Byrum (72) and Kenny Knox (67).

Rose and John Cook, who finished sixth at 286, both shot 69s.

Chip Beck, who was within one shot of Simpson at the 14th hole, double-bogeyed his last hole for a 70 and a 287 total.

Simpson and Byrum battled for the lead through the first nine holes, Simpson moving ahead with a birdie on the ninth hole. Simpson first watched his lead grow when Byrum bogeyed the 10th hole, then saw it shrink as he made bogeys at Nos. 12 and 14. By then, Beck was within one shot and Rose within two.

“When my game left me, I was just thinking about trying to hit some good golf shots,” Simpson said. “At that point, I was just trying to keep going, stick with trying to hit the best shot.

“I was thinking all day about the verse in Proverbs, ‘Be anxious for nothing.’ I was trying not to be anxious, but I had some anxious moments out there.”

Simpson sank a 12-foot putt at the 16th hole and a 20-footer at the 18th.

Americans Chi Chi Rodriguez and Dale Douglass finished 1-2 in individual medal play, but the International team put five men in the top eight to win the $600,000 Chrysler Cup at Sarasota, Fla.

The Internationals had 59.5 points in the PGA Senior event to 40.5 for the U.S.

Rodriguez, from Puerto Rico, shot a four-under-par 68, and Douglass birdied the 18th hole to finish with a 69.

Gary Player, Bob Charles, Roberto DeVicenzo, Harold Henning and Christy O’Connor all shot 70s, and earned 2.7 points apiece to enable the International team to get even for last year’s 68.5-31.5 defeat in the first Chrysler Cup.

Members of the winning team received $50,000 each, and the losers took home $25,000 apiece.

Billy Casper, the only other U.S. player to break par, had a 70.

Don January shot a 72, while Arnold Palmer, Miller Barber and Lee Elder had 74s and Gene Littler a 75 for the U.S.

Peter Thomson shot a 72, Peter Butler a 73 and Bruce Crampton a 74 for the Internationals.