GOLF ROUNDUP : Fleisher’s Long Road to Victory Ends With Long Putt

At 19, Bruce Fleisher won the U.S. Amateur championship, and then . . . nothing.

Fleisher, who played the PGA Tour for 11 years but couldn’t win and became a club pro, sank a 40-foot birdie putt on the seventh playoff hole Sunday to win the $1-million New England Classic at Sutton, Mass.

Fleisher, 42, who got into the tournament as an alternate, made $180,000, boosting his earnings to $514,000 in his PGA career.

Ian Baker-Finch of Australia had chances, but missed birdie putts of seven and 15 feet on the first two playoff holes.

After Fleisher made his long putt, Baker-Finch missed from 25 feet to end the PGA’s longest playoff since Bob Gilder needed eight extra holes to win at Phoenix in 1983.

Fleisher, the 1968 U.S. Amateur champion, shot a 64 in the final round after faltering with a 73 on Saturday. He and Baker-Finch, who had a 68, finished 72 holes at 268, 16 strokes under par.

Larry Ziegler ended a 15-year victory drought with a record-breaking six-stroke victory at the $325,000 Newport Seniors Cup at Newport, R.I.

Ziegler, 51, fired a final-round five-under-par 67 and his 17-under 199 broke the 54-hole tournament record set in 1983 by Miller Barber by one stroke. Ziegler last won at the 1976 New Orleans Open.

Tom Shaw and Jim Dent each shot 71 and George Archer had a 68 to tie for second at 205.