GOLF ROUNDUP : Wadkins Wins by Five as Strange Fades

Lanny Wadkins had no apologies for running away with the Anheuser-Busch golf tournament at Williamsburg, Va., Sunday.

“I’d rather win by five or six shots than by one any day,” he said. “It’s too hard on my ticker.”

Curtis Strange led a list of challengers who fell by the wayside during the final round, allowing Wadkins to pull away to a five-shot victory over Larry Mize.

Strange, in second place and three shots behind Wadkins at the start of the final round, slipped to a 73 and finished eight strokes back.

Wadkins’ three-under-par 68 left him at 18-under-par 266 after four rounds over Kingsmill Golf Club’s 6,790-yard layout.

His total broke the tournament record of 267 set by Ronnie Black in 1984 and matched by Mark McCumber in 1987.

It was career victory No. 19 for Wadkins, who won $180,000, but his first since the Colonial in May 1988.

Mize, who began the day five shots behind Wadkins, shot a 68 and wound up at 271.

Tina Tombs Purtzer, who had finished no better than 15th in her 38 previous LPGA tournaments, birdied five of the first six holes and breezed past JoAnne Carner and Chris Johnson by four strokes in the Jamie Farr Toledo tournament.

Purtzer’s five-under-par 66 gave her a 54-hole total of eight-under-par 205 for the 6,270-yard Highland Meadows Golf Club in Sylvania, Ohio.

She took the lead on the first hole with a birdie while 36-hole leader Betsy King bogeyed. Purtzer had a record-tying 29 on the front nine to build a four-stroke lead.

She had a double bogey at No. 11, but followed that with a birdie to restore the lead to four shots, then played the last six holes in par. Purtzer, who had a career bankroll of about $26,000, earned $48,750.

Carner, seeking her first victory in five years, shot a 69 to finish at 209 with Johnson, who shot a 70.

George Archer won the Long Island seniors tournament by one stroke when Frank Beard double-bogeyed the 17th hole.

Archer, 50, took advantage of the two-shot swing to win with an eight-under 208 after a final round of even-par 72.

Archer, hampered by a bad back for the past four months, earned $67,500 to bring his season total to $362,704, third on the money list.

Archer had three birdies to offset three bogeys on the 6,655-yard Meadow Brook Club course in Jericho, N.Y. Beard finished with a 71.