Golf Roundup : Strange Runs Away With the Canadian Open

Curtis Strange said it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

Strange shot a three-under-par 69 Sunday to win the Canadian Open for the second time, finishing three strokes ahead of David Frost, Jodie Mudd and Nick Price at Oakville, Ontario.

“I seemed to coast home, but you don’t do that,” Strange said. “You don’t ever coast home.

“I was standing on the 18th tee thinking, ‘How can I lose a three-shot lead?’ Now, that’s not the kind of thing you want to be thinking about, but I did.”

Strange had nothing to worry about, playing the final hole for a par.

Tied for the lead with Mike McCullough and Richard Zokol after three rounds, Strange birdied the second hole to take sole possession of the lead and never got into trouble in his bogey-free final round.

“I was playing so well, driving so well, hitting the ball so well, my swing wouldn’t let me choke,” he said. “Nobody made a run at me.”

Strange, 32, acquired the 10th victory of his 11-year PGA Tour career with a 276 total, 12-under par and a course record, one better than the standard set by Bruce Lietzke in 1982.

The victory was worth $108,000 from the total purse of $600,000 and pushed Strange’s earnings for the season to $397,860. It also virtually assured him of a place in the $2 million Nabisco Championships later this year and a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team.

Mudd shot a 68, Frost had a 69 and Price came in at 70, all finishing even at 279.

McCullough struggled to a 74 and tied for fifth at 281 with Mark McCumber, who moved up with the best round of the day, a 67.

Zokol, attempting to become the first Canadian to win this national championship since 1954, had a 75 that dropped him back into a group of six at 282.

Jane Geddes shot a five-under-par 67 to overtake rookie Nancy Taylor, who led after each of the first three rounds, and won the $225,000 Jamie Farr Toledo tournament by two strokes at Toledo, Ohio.

The victory was worth $33,750 to Geddes, who has earned $292,547 this season.

Geddes finished with a four-day total of eight-under-par 280. She took the lead with a birdie on the 15th hole while Taylor was making a double bogey on 13.

Jill Briles birdied the 13th hole to move to within one stroke of Geddes, who bogeyed the 17th hole to drop into a tie with Briles. Briles bogeyed the 15th and Geddes parred the 18th to earn her fourth victory of the season.

Briles, with a final round of 70, and Taylor, with a 72, tied for second at 282. Laurie Rinker and Julie Cole were at 283 and Marci Bozarth finished sixth at 284.

Bruce Crampton withstood an early surge by Orville Moody and shot a five-under-par 67 to win the $235,000 Greenbrier-American Express Seniors tournament by six strokes at White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.

Crampton’s 16-under 200 in the 54-hole tournament tied the record set two years ago by Don January. Crampton, 51, registered the biggest winning margin on this year’s PGA Senior Tour.

He won his third event of the year and his 10th since joining the tour in 1985. His $34,000 paycheck increased his 1987 earnings to $222,300, second only to Chi Chi Rodriguez.

Moody, one of four golfers within five strokes of the lead entering the final round, finished with a 68. He birdied four of the first six holes.

Crampton responded with birdies on the second, third and sixth holes. When Moody bogeyed Nos. 7 and 8, Crampton carded his fourth birdie on No. 8 to pull away.

Gary Player and Charlie Sifford each had a hole-in-one during the final round.