Rizzo’s Rally Results in Two-Stroke Victory

It was the best of times for Patti Rizzo and the worst of times for Nancy Brown in the LPGA Tour’s Red Robin Kyocera Inamori tournament Sunday at StoneRidge.

When the final round began, Brown led Rizzo by two strokes. When it ended, Rizzo had the $45,000 first prize and Brown was left with $3,525, her bit of consolation for a tie for 17th place.

Rizzo shot a two-under par 69 and finished with a 72-hole score of 277, seven under par. The victory was the fourth for the eight-year tour veteran from Miami, who also has won six tournaments in Japan during off-seasons in the United States. Her previous rounds had been 73, 67 and 68.

Meanwhile, total disaster overtook Brown, who had breezed through the first three rounds in 69, 67 and 70. She skidded to a seven-over 78 and finished seven strokes back at a par 284. A double bogey on the 10th hole climaxed her collapse.

Martha Nause finished second, two shots behind at 279. Juli Inkster, winner of the Nabisco Dinah Shore at Rancho Mirage last week, tied for third with Jane Crafter at 280. Another stroke back were Mitzi Edge, Sherri Turner, Amy Alcott and Penny Hammel.

Rizzo, 28, said the key to her victory was a bit of advice from her caddy, Bill Busky of Riverside.

“I was on the eighth green, and he told me I was putting too much with my wrists,” Rizzo said. “He said to try to stroke it with my shoulders. When I made my par putt on that hole and a birdie putt on nine, I knew I had my old stroke back and I was ready to fly.

“Those two holes turned it around for me. I was too nervous until then. Once I birdied 14 and 15, I got real excited. I knew then it was my tournament, and all I wanted to do was cruise in with pars.”

Relating more details of her winning round, Rizzo said, “I started with a bogey, which was normal. The par threes absolutely killed me all week. I must have been nine over on the par threes.

“But I had a lot of good breaks after that. On the third hole, I really got lucky. My drive hit on the cart path, rolled quite a ways and wound up back on the fairway. I had a 30-foot putt for an eagle, and wound up with a birdie. It was really my day.”

Rizzo’s victory increased her career earnings to $650,546, and moved her two notches to 30th place on the all-time list. She has won $77,993 this season, good for 11th place.

Nause, 34, from Sheboygan, Wis., won $27,750 for finishing second and climbed past the half-million mark in earnings to 42nd place at $513,209. She ranks sixth this year at $85,438.

There was a point Sunday when Nause caught herself thinking too much about winning her second tournament since joining the tour in 1978.

“It was on the 12th hole, and I was getting too excited,” Nause said. “I started talking to my caddy (Tom Konopacky of Stevens Point, Wis.) about the Green Bay Packers and the Milwaukee Bucks. He said, ‘That’s too depressing,’ but it calmed me down.

“I had a lot of chances that I didn’t capitalize on. But I didn’t lose the tournament; Patti won it.”

Laura Davies, who had fallen six shots behind with a nine on the sixth hole Saturday, made an early run that wiped out all but one stroke of the deficit. Three birdies in a row left her four-under par after eight holes.

Then the Briton missed a birdie chance on 10 and took a bogey on 11, and struggled home with a 70 and a total of 282, good for a tie for ninth place.

“Number 10 was the end of my run,” Davies said. “I hit a great drive, but my second shot went into a bunker, and the hole didn’t hold my putt.

“Up until then, it looked like six under would do it, and I was getting close. But when I missed that birdie on 10, I could feel my momentum going, and I never got it back.”

Brown’s difficulties began with bogeys on the first two holes. She clung to the lead, though, until she bogeyed the eighth and fell into a tie with Rizzo and Nause.

That was to be the last time Brown had even a share of the lead. When both Rizzo and Nause birdied No. 9 and she settled for a par, she was a stroke behind.

Then came the double bogey on No. 10, which Rizzo birdied while Nause bogeyed to take the lead for keeps. Brown suddenly was four shots behind, and she never recovered.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed,” Brown said. “This is the second time this year I’ve lost the lead in the last round (the other was in the Kemper Open in Kauai, Hawaii). It’s time I played better on Sunday.”

Brown’s double bogey on 10 followed an adverse ruling by two tour officials after her second shot had landed on the edge of the cart path.

“I feel like I got a bad ruling,” she said. “They said the ball was too far out of play, so I couldn’t take a drop. It was almost pin high, but it was behind a tree, and I tried to punch it out and couldn’t. It was terrible.”

Rizzo, Nause and Brown were the last threesome, and Rizzo was asked if she sympathized with Brown as their games went in opposite directions.

“A little part of me started to feel sorry for her,” Rizzo said. “But the other part said, wait a minute. I’ve gone through the same thing before, and nobody felt sorry for me.”

LPGA Notes

Meg Mallon of Ramona experienced the biggest thrill of her career when she shot a 66 in Sunday’s final round. She finished at 289, five over par, and earned $1,477. “It was a speed round--3 hours 35 minutes,” Mallon said. “I didn’t have a single bogey, for the second time in my life. I felt like I could make every par, and I did. I figured I had nothing to lose, so I played real loose.” Mallon’s best previous round was a 69. . . . At the time, Mallon was tied with Cindy Mackey for the best round of the tournament. Then Susie Redman came along and usurped the honor with a 65. . . . Deedee Lasker of Rancho Santa Fe shot a 70 and finished at 287, good for $2,173. Kathryn Young of Coronado shot a 73 for a 292 total and earned $548. . . . The break in the heat wave helped bring out a crowd of 17,000 for the final round. Total attendance for the tournament was estimated at 36,000.