GOLF ROUNDUP : With Help From Gamez, Brooks Gets a Victory

Being behind made all the difference for Mark Brooks in his battle with Robert Gamez at the Greater Milwaukee Open on Sunday.

The co-leaders were tied at 19 under par after 15 holes, but Brooks was in the group behind Gamez. The arrangement allowed Brooks to see that a safe approach was the best strategy down the stretch, and he ended up with a one-stroke victory.

“It’s not a pretty way to finish, but I got the job done,” said Brooks, whose two-under-par 70 gave him a 270 total, 18 under par. “I tried not to let it affect my shot, but it certainly affected my shot selection a few times.”

Brooks, who also won the Greater Greensboro Open, is the fifth player to win twice on the tour this year.

Brooks and Gamez ran into trouble on the closing three holes at the 7,030-yard Tuckaway Country Club. Gamez bogeyed the par-five 16th and the par-four 18th.

“The bogey on 16 took the wind out of my sails,” said Gamez, who had a record-breaking 61 in the first round.

Brooks scrambled to par the 16th and 17th and knew he needed only a bogey to win on No. 18.

Brooks said he changed his approach on the 18th hole after Gamez dropped two strokes behind with the bogey. Brooks said he played safe, to the front of the hole, to avoid any potential trouble.

“I wanted something short of the hole and still playing up the hill,” he said. “I just wanted to make sure I didn’t put it in a place it would have been really easy to make a six.”

George Archer recorded his 19th consecutive sub-par round for a five-under-par 67 and a one-shot victory in the GTE North Senior Classic at Indianapolis.

Archer, winning his second Senior PGA Tour event in a month, set a tournament record and matched the third lowest 54-hole total on the tour this year with a 17-under 199.

He said an extra hour a day on the practice greens helped him overcome a problem he was having with short putts. “I wasn’t practicing, and I just lost all my confidence and all my feel,” said Archer. “If I putt an hour a day it keeps me where I can control my putter.”

Pat Bradley finished with birdies on the final two holes to move into a tie with Laura Davies at 12 under par in the LPGA Rail Charity Classic at Springfield, Ill. Davies and Bradley are at 132, four strokes ahead of Dottie Mochrie and Page Dunlap.

Bradley had seven birdies, an eagle and two bogeys for a seven-under-par 65 in the second round of the 54-hole event.

Davies, who shot an LPGA record-tying 10-under-par 62 Saturday, had a two-under 70 in the second round.