Golf Roundup : Tway’s Late Charge Overwhelms Zoeller for a Two-Shot Victory

Bob Tway birdied three of the last four holes Sunday, beating Fuzzy Zoeller in a head-to-head duel to win the Memorial golf tournament at Dublin, Ohio.

Tway twice hit approaches within a foot in his stretch run, then rolled in a 25-foot putt on the final hole, finishing with a three-under-par 69.

Tway earned his first victory since the 1986 PGA championship with a four-round total of 11-under-par 277.

Zoeller, who led through the first three rounds, simply could not match Tway’s closing holes and gave him a high-five after Tway’s final birdie.

Zoeller, also a non-winner since 1986, matched par with a 72 and was two shots back at 279.

When Tway tapped in a putt on the 17th, he took the lead and Zoeller needed to gain a stroke on the 18th to force a playoff.

That appeared possible when Tway’s drive hit a tree on the 18th, and bounced back. But it bounced back in the fairway.

“It was a break,” Zoeller said. “But that’s golf. Good things happen to you when you’re playing good.”

Tway took advantage of it. He hooked his second shot between trees to the green then ran in the long putt that won it.

Payne Stewart, who started the day nine shots back, shot a bogey-free 65 and was third at 281.

Stewart, who won the Heritage tournament last month, had a chance to make a run at the lead but missed birdie opportunities on two of the last three holes.

Bruce Lietzke’s last-hole birdie got him into a tie for fourth with Mark Calcavecchia at 283. Lietzke had a closing 71, and Calcavecchia had a 70 despite a double bogey on the 18th hole.

Mark O’Meara and Scott Verplank were next at 284. O’Meara had a 69, Verplank a 70.

Cindy Rarick curled in a 20-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole to take control and capture the $275,000 Chrysler-Plymouth women’s tournament at Lincroft, N.J. by two strokes for her first LPGA victory in two years.

Laura Davies of England, who chased Rarick along with Sherri Steinhauer, finished second, one shot ahead of defending champion Nancy Lopez and Alice Ritzman.

Rarick, who had a share of the lead in all three rounds, had a final-round one-under-par 72 and finished the 54-hole event in five-under 214.

Heading into the final round, Rarick was tied with Davies and Steinhauer. Four other players, including Lopez, were two shots back.

However, Rarick quickly moved into the lead by making a three-foot birdie putt on the first hole. When she made a 20-footer on the sixth hole, she suddenly had a three-shot advantage.

But it didn’t last long, as Rarick, 29, bogeyed the seventh hole by missing a three-foot putt and the eighth by missing the green.

Davies, the long-hitting 1987 U.S. Women’s Open champion, moved into a share of the lead at four-under by making an eight-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole. But she quickly dropped back with a three-putt bogey from 20 feet on the 11th hole.

Rarick never lost the lead after that. But Davies and Steinhauer, who bogeyed the last two holes to finish at one-under, kept the pressure on.

Dave Hill watched as Chi Chi Rodriguez missed a 12-foot par putt, then made a four-footer on the third sudden-death hole to win the $400,000 Bell Atlantic-St. Christopher’s seniors tournament at Malvern, Pa.

Hill, who won $60,000 for the victory, and Rodriguez finished regulation play tied at a four-under-par 206 for the 54-hole tournament.

Rodriguez, who earned $35,000, missed a chance to win in regulation when he bogeyed No. 18. He finished the final round at three-under-par 67 with six birdies and three bogeys.

Hill had two birdies on the front nine in finishing the day with a 68.

The sudden-death playoff was the second this year on the senior tour and Hill has been involved in both. The first was a four-way tie won by Bob Charles at the Suncoast tournament.

Harold Henning won the $29,000 third prize by finishing a stroke behind the leaders with a 68 Sunday, and a three-day total of 207 on the 6,710-yard course.