GOLF ROUNDUP : Crenshaw Climbs Out of Ditch for Victory

The lasting image will be of Ben Crenshaw chasing his golf ball, but reality was that nobody could catch Crenshaw.

Crenshaw, who salvaged a bogey after hitting into a drainage ditch on the 17th hole, shot a four-under-par 66 with some masterful putting Sunday to claim a three-stroke victory in the $1-million Colonial Invitational tournament at Ft. Worth.

“The greens were awfully good,” Crenshaw said after sinking a pair of 30-footers for birdies and, by his own calculation, not missing anything from under 15 feet.

Crenshaw finished with a 72-hole total of 272, eight under par.

Corey Pavin and Nick Price both shot 68 to tie for second at 275 with John Mahaffey, who had a 66. Curtis Strange (70) and Mike Hulbert (63) were next at 276.

“The man’s amazing,” Strange said of Crenshaw. “I can’t even carry his putter.”

Pavin made birdies on three of five holes, beginning on the second to take a share of the lead. But Crenshaw regained the lead with his 30-footers, on the seventh and ninth, sandwiched around a 6-iron shot that gave him a 30-inch birdie putt on the eighth.

The three-birdie burst gave Crenshaw a 30 over the front and a four-shot lead. Crenshaw held his lead on the 12th with a 12-foot putt to save par from a bunker. On the 13th, a six-foot second putt found the heart of the hole.

“The two most important putts I made,” he said.

Crenshaw had a three-shot lead with two holes left when he hit a one-iron into a concrete-lined drainage ditch, and a few inches of swiftly-moving water took it back toward the tee. Crenshaw ran alongside for almost 100 yards.

“I thought maybe if it came to rest, I could play it out of there without penalty,” he said. But it the ball eventually disappeared into a flood-control area.

But Crenshaw made a bogey and went on to his first victory in more than two years.

“When you’ve gone so long without winning . . . I haven’t even been in contention since last fall and when I was in contention I played bad last rounds,” he said. “After a while you begin to doubt yourself.”

Lee Trevino shot a three-under-par 69 for a tournament-record 13-under-par 203 total and a six-stroke victory in a $300,000 senior tournament at Houston.

The victory was Trevino’s fourth in eight tournaments this year, his first on the PGA Senior Tour.

Trevino birdied the final three holes to shake off runner-up Gary Player, whose tournament-best 65 in the final round had pulled him to within three strokes of the lead.

Player, two groups ahead of Trevino, went to seven under with birdies on 14, 15 and 16 while Trevino bogeyed 15 to go 10 under before recovering.

Left-hander Bob Charles of New Zealand, who came into the final round in second four strokes behind Trevino, finished third with the final-round 72.

Trevino made $45,000 with the victory and increased his season-leading earnings to $320,133.

Cindy Rarick held off final-round charges by Hollis Stacy and Beth Daniel to win the $400,000 Pat Bradley International at High Point, N.C.

Rarick struggled with her last three holes--bogey, par, bogey--and finished with 25 points under the modified Stableford scoring system, one ahead of Daniel and two up on Stacy.

It was the fourth career victory for Rarick, who took home $62,500.

Under the modified Stableford system, par earns a golfer no points. Birdies are worth two points, eagles are worth five points and double-eagles gain eight points. Bogeys lose a point and double bogeys and worse cost three points.