GOLF ROUNDUP : Thorpe Pulls Away to Win Age-Group Event by Five

Jim Thorpe fired his second consecutive 68 Sunday to win the inaugural Amoco Centel Championship by five strokes over Don Pooley and Mark McCumber at Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Thorpe finished at 16-under-par 200 for the age-group tournament for professionals from 40 to 49 years of age. The event was shortened to 54 holes after Saturday’s rainout, but Thorpe still collected the full winner’s check of $115,000.

Thorpe bogeyed the fourth and fifth holes, then rebounded and birdied six out of the next 11 to win the tournament, his first victory since 1986.

McCumber and Pooley, who each shot 69 in the final round, collected $60,000 apiece. Gil Morgan, who had the day’s best round of 66, finished fourth.

Last-minute substitute Liselotte Neumann of Sweden shot a three-under-par 69 and won the LPGA tournament at Ohtsu, Japan, by two strokes over Dottie Mochrie and Caroline Keggi.

Neumann, who led after the first round but was one shot off the pace after the second, had four birdies and only one bogey in the final round and had a 54-hole total of five-under 211.

Ronan Rafferty fired a course-record 65 to beat Rodger Davis by five shots and lead Europe to an 8-4 victory over Australia in the final of the Four Tours Golf Championship at Adelaide, Australia.

David Feherty, Paul Broadhurst and Sam Torrance also scored victories as Europe won the team championship for the first time.

Japan and the United States tied 6-6 in the third-place playoff, but Japan edged the Americans on aggregate score. Japan won by one shot thanks to a birdie at the final hole by Ryoken Kawagishi, who defeated Fred Couples, 72-75.

Couples’ downfall came at the par-four fifth hole when he needed five shots to get out of a bunker.