GOLF ROUNDUP : This Time, the Heavens Do Norman a Favor

Greg Norman finally found an ally in pursuit of a victory--the rain.

Norman, who lost two titles this year when opponents made dramatic shots on the final hole, was declared the winner of the $1-million Memorial tournament Sunday when heavy rains at Dublin, Ohio, washed away the final round.

Norman, stunned by his good fortune, had inherited the third-round lead after Fred Couples double-bogeyed No. 18 Saturday.

“I’ve never had this happen to me before,” said Norman, who finished with a three-round total of even-par 216. “I really don’t know what to say or what to feel. Nobody likes to win like this.”

But Norman will take it. On March 25, Robert Gamez holed a 176-yard shot for eagle-two on No. 18 to beat Norman at Orlando, Fla. On April 29, David Frost sank a 50-foot bunker shot for birdie on the final hole to beat Norman by a shot at New Orleans.

Norman, who won $180,000, called the victory “a good break,” but added it did nothing to ease the sting of those losses.

“I don’t think about that,” Norman said. “There’s nothing you can do about that. It’s passed. It’s history. If I thought about it, I’d probably be in a funny farm by now.”

Payne Stewart finished second at 217 a week after winning the Byron Nelson Classic the same way Norman won Sunday--by rainout. Mark Brooks, Brad Faxon, Don Pooley and Couples tied for third at 218.

Norman’s victory at Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village Golf Club course enabled him to join Stewart and Gamez as the only two-time winners on the tour this year.

Norman didn’t know he had won until Stewart offered congratulations. “Give me some skin,” Stewart said to Norman on the practice range just after the final round was canceled.

If it was up to Nicklaus, however, the final round would be played today. But because of various considerations, it was canceled.

“It’s the Tour’s policy not to go beyond Monday,” said Nicklaus, the tournament’s founder, host and the course designer. “I think that was their decision; it was not our decision.”

Dottie Mochrie shot a four-under-par 68 to win a $350,000 women’s tournament at Chesapeake, Va., by nine shots, the second most-lopsided margin of victory in a 54-hole LPGA event.

Mochrie, who won $52,000, completed three rounds in 200, 16 under par.

Chris Johnson wound up at 209 after a closing-round 69 and Meg Mallon’s 68 left her at 210.

Mochrie played the front nine in three-under 33, moving her to 15 under and giving her a nine-shot lead over Johnson. No one else was within 10 shots of the leader.

The only questions left for Mochrie after she made the turn were whether she could match the tour’s scoring and margin-of-victory records for 54 holes.

Mochrie needed another three-under 33 on the back nine to equal the scoring mark of 198 set by Jan Stephenson in a 1981 tournament. Stephenson set the winning-margin record of 11 shots in the same event.

Jimmy Powell, who has struggled most of the year, shot a seven-under-par 65 to move past several players and win a $350,000 Senior PGA tournament at Oklahoma City by three strokes.

Powell’s bogey-free round gave him his first PGA Senior Tour victory in six years on the tour--he also was a non-winner on the regular PGA tour.

The 65 tied the tournament record set by Chi Chi Rodriguez when he won the 1987 title.

Powell’s eight-under 208 total for 54 holes was three better than Mike Hill, second-round leader Terry Dill, Jim Dent and Rives McBee.

Powell’s best previous finish this year was a ninth-place tie, last week at Las Vegas. That also was the first time in nine starts he had even shot a sub-par round.