Golf Roundup : Pooley’s 70 Good Enough to Win the Memorial

Don Pooley needed only a two-under-par 70 to come from four shots back and score the second victory of his career Sunday in the Memorial golf tournament at Dublin, Ohio.

Third-round leader Scott Hoch, who played 55 holes without a bogey, had three in a row on the front nine as he struggled to a final round of 78 to finish in a tie for third.

Pooley, 35, won by three strokes with a 272 total, 16 shots under par and one off the record on the Muirfield Village Golf Club course designed and built by tournament host and founder Jack Nicklaus.

The victory for the low-key Pooley, a 12-year PGA veteran whose only previous win came in 1980, was worth $140,000 from the total purse of about $832,000. It gave Pooley $290,628 for the season.

He also won $500,000--to be paid over a 20-year period--for a hole-in-one earlier this year. Pooley, who started the final round four strokes behind Hoch, took the lead alone when Hoch shot a 40 on the front nine. Hoch had two double bogeys on the back nine.

Curt Byrum came on to tie Pooley with a two-putt birdie-4 on the 15th, then he three-putted for bogey on the next hole.

That gave Pooley, the 1985 Vardon Trophy winner for low-stroke average, the lead again and he brought it home with a flair, finishing birdie-birdie in the muggy weather. Byrum finished second at 275.

Hoch tied for third at 276 with Chip Beck and South African Denis Watson. Bech shot 68 and Watson 70 over the last 18.

At Corning, N.Y., Cindy Rarick birdied the last four holes to come from behind and win the LPGA Corning tournament by one stroke.

Rarick, whose first tour victory came at the Hawaiian Open earlier this year, shot the day’s best round, a five-under-par 67 to take the $41,250 first prize. She finished the tournament 13 under at 275. That was a stroke better than Patty Sheehan, Betsy King and Jane Geddes.

At Castle Rock, Colo., Bruce Crampton shot a bogey-free five-under-par 67 to record a one-stroke victory in the $250,000 Denver Champions of Golf seniors tournament.

Crampton, a seven-time winner last season, earned $37,500 for his first individual title this year. He had teamed with Orville Moody for first place in the Legends of Golf in April.

Crampton’s 54-hole total of 12-under 204 broke the tournament record of eight-under par at the demanding TPC-Plum Creek course.

Walt Zembriski, who began the day tied with Crampton for the lead at seven under, birdied the 18th hole to take second place. He closed with a 68 for a 205 total.