Golf Roundup : Mahaffey Gets First Win Since 1986

John Mahaffey shot a six-under-par 65 Sunday to win his first PGA event in three years by rallying to take the Federal Express St. Jude tournament at Memphis, Tenn.

The victory was the 10th of Mahaffey’s PGA career but his first since the 1986 Tournament Players Championship.

“It’s been a long time since I had won and I think I had become complacent,” he said. “When I went out there today I wanted to be as aggressive as I could.”

Mahaffey, who trailed third-round leaders Bob Gilder and Bernhard Langer by three shots entering the final round, took the lead for good with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole and padded his lead with another birdie on No. 17. He finished at 12-under-par 272 and earned $180,000.

“He (Mahaffey) played well,” Gilder said. “He went out and won the tournament.”

Gilder, the last player with a chance to catch Mahaffey, bogeyed the last two holes and fell into a four-way tie with Langer, Hubert Green and Bob Tway at 275.

Green tied Doug Tewell’s course record with a 63 despite bogeys on the last two holes. Tway had a 69 and Langer shot a par 71.

Mahaffey went ahead to stay on No. 15 when he made a 25-foot birdie putt to move to 11-under, then added a 15-footer on No. 17 and parred the final hole for his 65.

Beth Daniel ended a four-year winless streak by making 18 consecutive pars for a 71 and a four-stroke victory over Sherri Turner in the Greater Washington Open at Potomac, Md.

Daniel earned $45,000 to move past Pat Bradley and into third place on the LPGA’s earnings list this year. She took a four-shot lead into the final round and never faltered in finishing at eight-under-par 205 for 54 holes.

The last time Daniel had 18 consecutive pars, in 1985, was also the last time she won an LPGA event.

“It was the same type of tournament,” she said. “I had a lead going into the final round and nobody charged. It was just a matter of me hitting fairways, hitting greens and making pars.”

Turner came out of the pack to finish second with birdies on three of the last four holes for a 65, the best round of the day.

Jane Geddes shot a final-round 68 to win the British Women’s Open at Ferndown, England, by two strokes, becoming only the third player to win both the United States and British national championships.

Tom Shaw sank a 2 1/2-foot par putt on the 18th hole to win the U.S. West Showdown tournament at Jeremy Ranch, Utah, for his first victory on the PGA Senior Tour.