Golf Roundup : South Korea’s Ok-Hee Ku Collects First U.S. Victory

Ok-Hee Ku, a successful golfer in South Korea, made a 12-foot uphill putt to save par on the 18th hole Sunday and win the $350,000 Turquoise tournament at Phoenix, her first Ladies Professional Golf Assn. tournament victory.

Ku has won 16 times in South Korea and twice on the Japanese tour. Her first win in the United States earned her $52,000.

She shot a one-under-par 72 and had a four-round total of 11-under-par 281.

Ku, 31, a third-year LPGA Tour pro whose best previous finish was third in the 1986 Boston tournament, finished one shot ahead of Japan’s Ayako Okamoto and Dottie Mochrie. Okamoto shot a 70, and Mochrie had a 69.

Colleen Walker and Amy Alcott, co-leaders after two rounds, finished three shots back at 284--8 shots under par on the 6,404-yard, par-73 Moon Valley Country Club course.

Ku, playing with Walker and Rosie Jones in the final threesome, sailed her approach shot over the 18th green and chipped back to within 10 feet.

Ku approached the last hole knowing she had to par after both Mochrie and Okamoto birdied No. 18. But she might have known it was to be her day: On No. 13, she sliced her drive toward the out-of-bounds markers, but it hit a garbage can and bounced back into safe territory.

The turning point for Okamoto, 36, came on the 17th hole, when she missed a three-foot, par-saving putt to fall two shots off the pace.

Mochrie, 22, was within 20 feet of birdies on Nos. 13 through 17 but couldn’t sink one.

“The ball was afraid of the dark,” she said.

It wasn’t until the last hole that she finally came to within stroke of Ku, sinking a 10-footer for a birdie.

Bob Charles of New Zealand shot a three-under-par 69 and won the rain-shortened $360,000 Grand Slam Senior tournament by one stroke at Narita, Japan, despite Larry Mowry’s sizzling 64.

Charles finished at eight-under-par 136 for two rounds and collected $75,000. The tournament, originally scheduled for 54 holes, was shortened because of heavy rain on Saturday.

Mowry finished at 137 and shared second place with Billy Casper, who shot a 69. Each received $41,000.

Arnold Palmer, who aced the 182-yard, par-3 14th hole with a 4-iron in the first round Friday, pocketed $25,500 after finishing fourth at 138. Palmer also received $23,000 as a bonus for the hole-in-one.