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LOS ANGELES OPEN : Schulz No Longer Lags Behind : Golf: He improves his putting and pars the final seven holes at Riviera to beat Sluman by a shot for his second victory.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Ted Schulz said he had a feeling that he was going to win the Nissan Los Angeles golf tournament. “Good vibes you might call it,” he said.

Those vibes were tested Sunday, though, on the 18th hole at the Riviera Country Club, where Schulz lagged a putt 40 to 45 feet to within a foot of the cup and tapped in for a par.

Then, Schulz, 31, who had won only one previous tournament on the tour, the Southern Open in 1989, had to wait while Jeff Sluman and Bruce Lietzke tried to catch him.

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Sluman and Lietzke, the co-leaders after 54 holes, trailed Schulz by one shot at that juncture.

Then, Sluman, who stands only 5 feet 7 and weighs 135 pounds, hit his four-iron second shot 216 yards, giving himself a good chance at a birdie on No. 18.

Lietzke also found the green with his second shot, but he was 30 to 35 feet below the hole. He made a bold birdie try, but his putt went four feet past the hole. He then missed again for a bogey, but he had already been eliminated from a possible playoff.

Sluman estimated his birdie try as an eight-foot putt, but it seemed shorter.

“I played it to the right center,” Sluman said. “I don’t know if I pulled it, but it broke a mile.”

Sluman got his par, but he needed a birdie to prolong the tournament.

So Schulz, who once worked at the driving range at Bermuda Dunes, became the L.A. Open champion, joining such illustrious players as Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Arnold Palmer.

Schulz shot a three-under-par 68, for a 72-hole total of 272, 12 under par.

Asked what his thoughts were while watching Sluman putt on the 18th green, Schulz said: “I wasn’t thinking anything either way. Jeff is a good putter. But he didn’t have a gimme. He could miss it.”

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There wasn’t any indication that Schulz, a native of Louisville, Ky., would win here, considering his previous performances this year.

He had missed four consecutive cuts--Hawaii, Phoenix, Pebble Beach and the Bob Hope tournament.

“But I made an adjustment in my putting stance and squared it up, like I hit my other shots,” he said.

A shaky, unsure putter earlier this year, Schulz was steady when it counted Sunday. He made a three-foot birdie putt at the par-five 11th hole and then had seven consecutive pars on the difficult finishing holes.

Sluman, who along with Lietzke had a one-shot lead over Schulz and Davis Love III after three rounds, started fast and was 13 under after nine holes, leading Schulz by two shots.

Schulz caught Sluman at the 11th hole, went one stroke ahead at the 12th and then they were even again through the 13th and 14th.

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Sluman bogeyed the par-four, 447-yard 15th, and Schulz regained the lead.

“I made a prayer today that I would play my best and accept whatever happened,” Schulz said. “Even when I missed a short putt on 16 (for a birdie) it didn’t bother me. “I just stuck my to my game plan and my caddie (Jimmy Walker) helped me a lot.”

He emphasized again that his putting enabled him to win.

“My whole goal this week was just to make the cut,” Schulz said. “Then, I got some momentum going with my putting, which had been my whole problem.”

Schulz also said he got encouragement from Rocco Mediate, who was playing with him along with defending champion Fred Couples.

“Rocco and I came out on the tour together,” Schulz said. “He was very positive. He’d say, ‘Great shot.’ It was really nice to have that support.”

Schulz said he was encouraged earlier in the tournament by another playing partner, Chip Beck, who influenced him with a positive attitude.

“I really learned a lot from him, just watching his attitude,” Schulz said. “I tried to emulate that, stay positive whatever the circumstances.”

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Schulz made his only bogey of the final round on the ninth hole, where he three-putted. But he said he didn’t let it upset him.

With the $180,000 he earned Sunday, he almost matched his earnings of $193,126 last year, when he was 82nd on the money list.

It was only three years ago that Schulz was playing on the Asian tour, waiting for buses to take him to tournaments in places he had never dreamed he would be playing.

Asked what his victory meant to him, Schulz said:

“Earlier this year I wasn’t putting very well. Putting slumps are awful. It you can’t get it in the hole out here, you can’t make a cut and that’s what was happening to me. What it tells me is that I can play with these guys out here.”

Golf Notes

Jeff Sluman earned $108,000 by finishing second. Bruce Lietzke, Craig Stadler and Davis Love III each earned $52,000 by finishing in a tie for third. Stadler, a former USC star, shot a five-under-par 66. He was 11 under for the tournament when he reached the 18th hole. It seemed at the time that he had a chance to get into a playoff if he made a birdie or if Ted Schulz, Sluman or Lietzke, playing behind him, faltered. However, Stadler, who hasn’t won on the tour since 1984, missed a three-foot par putt and got a bogey. . . . Fred Couples, the defending champion who was only two strokes behind the 54-hole leaders, shot a one-over-par 72 for a four-round total of 277. . . . Duffy Waldorf, a former UCLA standout, had his second 66 of the week and finished at 276, in a tie for ninth.

THE TOP EIGHT

Ted Schulz: 69-66-69-68--272

Jeff Sluman: 66-69-68-70--273

Craig Stadler: 66-71-71-66--274

Bruce Lietzke: 70-63-70-71--274

Davis Love III: 70-65-69-70--274

Scott Simpson: 71-68-67-69--275

Sam Randolph: 72-65-69-69--275

Rocco Mediate: 70-69-66-70--275

COMPLETE RESULTS C21

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