Golf Roundup : Azinger Holds Off Kite, Wins by 5

The largest winning margin of the young PGA Tour season--a five-stroke victory by Paul Azinger in the Bay Hill tournament at Orlando, Fla.--was deceptive. It wasn’t that easy.

“I responded under pressure better than I ever thought I was capable of,” Azinger said Sunday after turning back Tom Kite in a stretch duel that became a runaway only over the last four holes.

On three occasions, including twice on the back nine, Kite closed to within one stroke. But the front-running Azinger, from nearby Bradenton, Fla., responded every time.

Azinger, not completely recovered from the nausea and dizziness that bothered him Saturday, won with a 5-under-par 66 that included eight birdies.

It was not until Azinger engineered a two-shot swing on the 14th hole that he had some breathing room.

Azinger chipped in from 25-30 feet and Kite bogeyed from a bunker, giving Azinger a four-shot lead with four holes to play.

He won this tournament, the fourth victory of his career, with a 271 total, 13 shots under par on Arnold Palmer’s Bay Hill Club.

The victory was worth $135,000 from the total purse of $750,000 and pushed Azinger’s winnings for the season to $209,025.

It also brought an end to a peculiar string of troubles for men who win the PGA Player of the Year title. Azinger had that distinction last year, with three victories and $822,481 in earnings.

His Bay Hill victory marked the first time since Tom Watson in 1980 that a Player of the Year had been able to win a PGA event the following season.

Kite, one stroke back of Azinger going into the final round, had a closing 70 and was alone in second at 276.

Laura Davies made a four-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Robin Walton by one stroke in the Tucson Open. It was Davies’ first LPGA victory.

Davies, a rookie from England who missed the first two cuts this season, shot a final-round par 72 and was 10-under 278 for the tournament.

Walton, seeking her first career victory, came from seven shots back to tie Davies on the 17th hole.

But her second shot on No. 18 flew into a sand trap and she finished with a par 4 on the 458-yard hole, a two-under 70 round and a 279 total for second-place money of $27,750.

The victory was worth $45,000 for the 24-year-old Davies, who has won six European events and last year won the Women’s U.S. Open.

At Sun City West, Ariz., Al Geiberger shot a final round five-under-par 67 to hold off Orville Moody and win the $225,000 Arizona seniors tournament by one stroke.

Geiberger started the day at 12-under and finished the three-day tournament at 17-under 199. The victory, worth $33,750, was the first of the season for Geiberger, who has now earned $376,723 on the Senior Tour and $111,925 this year.

Moody shot a final-round 7-under 65 for a 16-under 200 total.

David Whelan of England won the $360,000 Barcelona Open in a sudden-death playoff. Whelan, countrymen Barry Lane and Nick Faldo and Mark Mouland of Wales all finished regulation play at 12-under-par 276 at the 5,944-yard Prat de Llobregat course.