Golf Roundup : Rain Worth $90,000 to Ex-Trojan Randolph

Former USC golfer Sam Randolph, the 1985 U.S. Amateur champion who is in his first season as a pro, won his first PGA tournament Sunday the easy way.

Randolph was declared winner of the $500,000 Bank of Boston event at Sutton, Mass., after rain forced cancellation of the final round.

Only four players in the field of 82 completed the fourth round before play was suspended in late morning by heavy rain which inundated some greens.

Officials at Pleasant Valley Country Club waited for three hours before canceling the round, with the tournament becoming official after 54 holes.

Randolph shot a seven-under-par 64 Saturday, one stroke off the course record, for a 54-hole score of 199, a Pleasant Valley record for three rounds.

The final-round washout gave Randolph a four-stroke victory over defending champion Gene Sauers, Australian Wayne Grady and Canadian Ray Stewart.

Randolph, 23, the son of a Santa Barbara club pro, doubled his PGA earnings, collecting $90,000 in his 22nd tournament.

He shot a 67, two strokes off the pace, in the opening round and had a 68 for 135, two strokes behind Lee Trevino at the halfway mark.

Gary Player of South Africa rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a playoff against New Zealander Bob Charles to win the $250,000 World Seniors Invitational at Charlotte, N.C.

It was Player’s third PGA Seniors victory of the season.

Charles forced the playoff by dropping birdie putts on two of the final three holes to go nine under par for the 54-hole tournament at 207.

Player, who entered the final round with a two-shot lead over Charles, had a 72 and won $37,500. Charles, who shot a closing 70, won $22,500.

Nancy Lopez, who began the day two strokes behind the leader, sank a five-foot putt on the 18th hole to finish at six-under-par 210 and win the $225,000 Cellular One-Ping tournament by one stroke.

Lopez, who earned $33,750, and Jan Stephenson began the 18th hole tied for the lead. Both players hit their approach shots to the right of the green and had identical chip shots, leaving each with a five-foot putt.

Stephenson, playing in the group just ahead of Lopez, hit the left edge of the cup with her putt, which lipped out, giving her a bogey. She wound up tied with Kelly Leadbetter and Muffin Spencer-Devlin for second at the Columbia-Edgewater Country Club.

Lopez began the day at 139, tied for third with Stephenson, Hollis Stacy and Elaine Crosby.

Britain’s Paul Way came from behind with a final-round 67 and won the $350,000 European Open at Walton Heath, England, by two strokes with a 279.

West Germany’s Bernhard Langer, the overnight leader by one stroke, ballooned to a final-round 75 and squandered a chance to win the tournament for the second time in three years.