Golf Roundup : Jacobsen, Unaware of Threat on His Life, Loses on Final Hole

Peter Jacobsen was not aware of it, but he was playing under a death threat when he double bogeyed the final hole and let Jim Benepe escape with the title Sunday in the $900,000 Western Open at Oak Brook, Ill.

Benepe, making his first start on the American PGA Tour, played in front of Jacobsen and bogeyed the final hole.

Benepe was standing by the green watching as Jacobsen played the 18th, needing only a par to win, a bogey to force a playoff.

Jacobsen, however, hit a 6-iron second shot over the green and into the water. His double bogey gave the title to Benepe.

Officials of the Western Golf Assn. said that while Jacobsen was going to the 16th tee, a threat against Jacobsen’s life was received by telephone at the Butler National Golf Club.

Peter de Young, the tournament director, said “a male voice said ‘a man with a black eye patch will kill Peter Jacobsen on the 18th hole. He will not finish the golf tournament.’ ”

Police security was increased, WGA officials said, but Jacobsen was not informed of the threat until after he completed the final hole.

Benepe, 24, a graduate of nearby Northwestern University who has played around the world the last two years, was tied for the lead when he played the final hole.

He put his approach on the fringe, then three-putted for bogey. That dropped him one off the pace with Jacobsen standing in the fairway.

Jacobsen, who was four shots clear of the field when the final round, needed only a 72nd-hole par to secure his first victory since 1984.

But he flew the ball over the green and to the right and into the water.

After a drop, he pitched to the green, then missed a 20-foot bogey putt that would have forced a playoff.

“I took myself out of it. I gave it to him,” Jacobsen said. “I feel terrible; I feel terrible about making that double bogey.”

Benepe, rookie of the year and winner of the British Columbia Open on the Canadian tour in 1987 and a winner in Australia earlier this season, played the final 18 holes in 70 and scored his first American professional victory with a 278 total, 10 shots under par on the Butler National course.

Jacobsen struggled to a 75, including the six on the last hole, and was one back at 279.

The victory was worth $162,000 from the total purse of $900,000. More importantly, it provided Benepe with playing rights on the American tour and gave him an exemption through 1990. Jacobsen won $97,200.

Isao Aoki of Japan and Brad Faxon were at 280. Each had a closing 69 in the warm, breezy weather.

Sally Little made a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole, breaking a tie with Britain’s Laura Davies to win the $500,000 du Maurier LPGA tournament at Coquitlam, Canada.

With her four-round total of 9-under-par 279 at Vancouver Golf Club, Little earned $75,000. The tournament is one of the LPGA’s four majors, along with the U.S. Women’s Open, the Mazda LPGA Championship and the Nabisco Dinah Shore.

For Little, a 36-year-old native of South Africa who resides in Delray Beach, Fla., the victory broke a six-year drought due, in part, to 1983 abdominal and arthroscopic knee surgery. The tour’s 15th-leading career money winner with 14 victories had not won since July 18, 1982, when she won the $30,000 first prize in the Mayflower tournament at Indianapolis.

Little made three birdies and had bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15 for her round of 71. Davies had three birdies and a bogey in her final-round 70 to take home $46,250.

Although Little led the du Maurier since Friday’s second-round course-record 65, she never led by more than three shots.

Sherri Turner, who was tied with Davies in second place entering the final round, shot a 72 Sunday to finish with a 282 total and third-place money of $33,750.

Lou Graham overcame strong winds to shoot a 4-under-par 68 and move into a two-stroke lead after 36 holes of the $350,000 Senior Gold Rush at Rancho Murieta, Calif.

Graham, a rookie on the PGA Senior tour, has an 8-under-par 136, two strokes better than Bob Charles and three strokes better than Miller Barber, Gary Player and Dave Hill.