Golf Roundup : Watson, Crenshaw Rally to Reach International Final

Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw rallied on the back nine Saturday to secure spots among the final 18 players competing for $700,000 today in the championship round of the $1-million International golf tournament at Castle Rock, Colo.

Watson birdied three of the last five holes in the unique tournament to shoot a two-under-par 70 that was good for six points. Crenshaw also survived the cut with six points in a round of 71 that included birdies on the 13th, 14th and 17th holes.

The International is the only tournament on the PGA Tour in which points, not strokes, determine the outcome. Five points are awarded for an eagle and two for a birdie. One point is deducted for a bogey and three for a double-bogey or worse.

Fifty-four players competed over the Jack Nicklaus-designed Castle Pines Country Club course Saturday with 18 advancing to the final round.

Chip Beck had the day’s best round, a 66 worth 13 points, and won $10,000. It was the second time this week he has had the day’s best score, but he will start even with the other 17 players today.

Also making the final 18 were defending champion Ken Green, Corey Pavin, Andy Magee, D.A. Weibring, Bruce Lietzke, Morris Hatalsky, Richard Zokol, Joey Sindelar, Ken Brown, Steve Pate, Mike Hulbert, Nick Price, Fuzzy Zoeller, John Cook and U.S. Open champion Scott Simpson.

Pate, Hulbert, Price, Zoeller, Cook and Simpson all survived a seven-man playoff for the final six spots with Denis Watson making a double-bogey in the playoff and falling out of the tournament.

Of today’s qualifiers, five have never won a tournament on the PGA Tour--Beck, Magee, Zokol, Brown and Pate.

Orville Moody, who shot a five-under-par 67, wound up as the sole leader of the Rancho Murieta Seniors tournament when Butch Baird, who had matched Moody’s eight-under-par 136 total, was penalized for having picked up his ball on the 10th fairway in the first round at Rancho Murieta, Calif.

Baird, who eagled on the 18th hole to finish with a six-under-par 66, was assessed a two-stroke penalty for having picked up and cleaned his ball on the 10th fairway in Friday’s first round. With the penalty, Baird is at 138, two strokes behind Moody.

Bob Charles, who was playing in a threesome with Baird and Chi Chi Rodriguez, was also assessed two strokes to his Friday round of 73 for having picked up his ball. Charles shot 74 on Saturday for a 147 total.

Rodriguez did not pick up and was unaffected. He shot 71 Saturday and is tied with Lee Elder and Ken Towns at 141.

Val Skinner shot a two-under-par 70 to retain the lead after two rounds of the $225,000 LPGA MasterCard Invitational tournament at White Plains, N.Y.

Skinner had three birdies and registered her only bogey on the final hole of the par-72, 6,187-yard Ridgeway Country Club course. Her 36-hole total of 137 kept her two shots ahead of Shelly Hamlin, who also had a 70 at Ridgeway.

Peter Senior of Australia shot a three-under-par 69 for a three-round total of 206 and a one-stroke lead over West Germany’s Bernhard Langer in the $316,000 International Open at York, England.

British Open champion Nick Faldo stormed into contention with a six-under-par 66 over the 6,809-yard Fulford Golf Club course to join a pack of five golfers a stroke behind Langer, who shot a 71.