Golf Roundup : Lohr Beats Beck on 5th Extra Hole for First Win

Bob Lohr, who birdied the 18th hole to force a playoff, won his first PGA Tour title by sinking a 5-foot par putt on the fifth extra hole Saturday to beat Chip Beck in the $700,000 Walt Disney World tournament at Lake Buena Vista, Fla..

Beck 3-putted the final hole, missing an 8-footer for par before Lohr dropped his putt. The playoff was the 13th and longest on the Tour this year and the first ever for Beck or Lohr.

The 2-shot swing on the 18th allowed Lohr to tie Beck, who shot a 66 to complete 72 holes at 25-under-par 263. Lohr put his approach shot on No. 18 within 3 feet of the cup and sank the birdie putt to finish a round of 68.

Beck and Lohr set a record for the Disney and came within 2 strokes of the 43-year-old Tour record for most shots under par in a 72-hole event. Ben Hogan set the record in the 1945 Portland Invitational, and Mike Souchak tied it in the 1955 Texas Open.

Beck and Lohr each birdied the first playoff hole, the par-4 16th of the Magnolia course, one of three courses used in this event. Lohr made a 15-foot putt from the edge of the green, and Beck then dropped a 12-footer.

After parring the next two holes, they returned to No. 16, where Beck made a 15-footer for a birdie and Lohr dropped a 12-foot birdie putt to stay alive.

Bruce Lietzke and Fuzzy Zoeller tied for third at 269, 19 shots under and 6 off the pace. Lietzke shot a final-round 68, and Zoeller had a 70.

Lohr, a 4-year veteran, won $126,000 and became the season’s 11th first-time winner on the PGA Tour. He has finished second twice.

Beck won $75,600 to move into the lead on the money-winning list with $770,258.

Larry Mowry shot a 7-under-par 65 to gain a tie with Bob Charles for the second-round lead in the $250,000 Las Vegas Senior tournament.

Mowry, who began a shot behind first-round leader Charles, stood at 11-under 133 through 36 holes on the 7,111-yard Desert Inn Country Club course.

Two shots behind the co-leaders were Orville Moody and Dave Hill, who both shot identical 68-68--136. Bobby Nichols fired a 69 to come in at 137. Arnold Palmer, Joe Jimenez and Walt Zembriski were at 138.

Palmer, who started the day at even-par, began his round with a bogey but registered seven birdies en route to a 66.

Sandy Lyle of Scotland shot a 75, and Severiano Ballesteros had a 74 in the swirling winds and on the lightning-fast greens of the Valderrama Golf Club course, but the pair still held a 2-stroke lead over Nick Faldo of England after three rounds of the $963,000 Volvo Masters tournament at Sotogrande, Spain.

Lyle, U.S. Masters winner, and Ballesteros, British Open champion--the two leading money winners in the world--were the only two in the field to remain under par with 54-hole totals of 214, 2-under par.

Faldo, who ranks fifth in world-wide earnings, put a sand wedge 7 feet from the pin on the first hole for a birdie. He then proceeded to par the rest of the round in his usual steady fashion to finish with a 1-under-par 71 and a 3-round total of 216. England’s Roger Champman was fourth at 218 after a 70, and 5 players were tied at 219.