A Payoff in Playoff for O’Meara : Golf: He makes it crystal clear who dominates Pebble Beach by winning tournament for the fourth time.

The winner of the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am is rewarded with 60 pieces of Waterford Crystal along with first prize money.

Mark O’Meara is running out of room for the crystal at his home in Orlando, Fla.

O’Meara won the Pebble Beach tournament for the fourth time Sunday in a sudden death playoff with Jeff Sluman.

O’Meara made a 12-foot par putt on the first playoff hole, the 16th, and Sluman missed his attempt for par from a slightly shorter distance.

O’Meara said that patience was the key to his victory after he fell four strokes behind Sluman after a double bogey at the eighth hole.

However, O’Meara and Paul Azinger closed in on Sluman and it almost came down to a three-man playoff.

Azinger, playing one hole ahead of O’Meara and Sluman, was short by about an inch on a 15-foot, uphill birdie putt on the 18th green that would have put him in the playoff.

When O’Meara got to the 18th green, he had a difficult birdie putt of 35 feet from the collar of the green. Sluman was 20 feet from the cup.

O’Meara’s putt hit the back of the cup and fell into the hole. Sluman then made his birdie putt to force a playoff.

“I was very excited after I made that putt,” O’Meara said. “If it doesn’t hit the cup, it goes two feet by.”

O’Meara had an 0-4 playoff record compared to Sluman’s 0-2 record going to the first extra hole, the par four, 402-yard 16th.

Sluman’s drive found the rough, while O’Meara hit onto the fairway. Sluman’s second shot was still in the rough, apparently hitting a tree.

O’Meara’s second shot from the fairway went into the gallery near the the green and then came back into the rough.

O’Meara stubbed his chip shot and it barely got on the green. Sluman had to pitch out of the rough on his third shot.

Then, O’Meara made his putt, while Sluman’s par try to extend the playoff hit the cup and rolled past by a few feet.

“Today was my day to have a little bit of luck,” O’Meara said.

If that’s the case, luck here has been with him quite a while.

He previously won here in 1985, 1989 and 1990, in addition to being on the winning pro-amateur team in 1984. He also won the 1979 U.S. Amateur title at Pebble Beach.

Talk about horses for courses.

“I have so much of this stuff,” O’Meara said good-naturedly of his gift of the crystal.

He also got a check for $198,000.

“Maybe I should buy this place,” O’Meara said jokingly.

Then, he added that he and his wife are considering buying a house in the area. Why not? He already owns the tournament.

O’Meara shot a two-under-par 70 in his final round for a 72-hole score of 275, 13 under. He was the 54-hole leader, two shots ahead of Sluman.

Sluman, who had five consecutive birdies on his front nine, had a final round of 68.

“I congratulate Mark, he’s a tough guy to beat,” said Sluman, who has only one victory in his nine-year career, the 1988 PGA championship.

“I did what I thought I had to do, but it wasn’t enough.”

O’Meara, 35, who once played on the Cal State Long Beach golf team, has had half of his professional victories at Pebble Beach.

He has yet to win a major, but the U.S. Open is scheduled here June 18-21 and O’Meara can hardly wait.

“I don’t know what to say,” O’Meara said after his victory. “To win four times on a golf course of this caliber, with the beauty of it and the pressure, I’m just proud that it’s happened to me.”

O’Meara said he never lost hope while Sluman and Azinger were surging past him on the front nine.

“You don’t start playing this course until you make the swing on eight, nine, 10 and rest of the way home.

“After my double bogey on eight, I made a real good pitch shot on nine to save par and that kind of turned the tide.

“Then, I said to my caddie, ‘The secret is for me to shoot three, or four under on the backside and, if I do that, I think this tournament can be won. He looked at me and said, “You’re absolutely right.’ ”

O’Meara then went to work. He got birdies on the 10th, 11th and 13th holes, but stumbled with a bogey on 15 when he his second shot found a bunker.

However, he got another birdie at No. 16, ultimately to be the playoff hole. Sluman got a bogey there, finding two bunkers.

O’Meara, Sluman and Azinger then were tied at 12 under par. Sluman had an opportunity to regain the lead when his tee shot on the par three, 209-yard 17th landed five feet from the cup.

However, he missed his birdie putt, while O’Meara was scrambling to make his par.

Then, O’Meara made his 35-foot putt on the 18th and Sluman answered with his 20-footer. But he couldn’t do it a second time.

Golf Notes

This was the ninth playoff in tournament history. . . . Greg Norman and Kerry Packer won the pro-am with a record 42-under-par score of 246. Packer is one of Australia’s richest men, owner of a publishing company and a TV network. He has a 16 handicap and finished a net 38 under par. “I was more nervous for him because I knew what it meant for him,” Norman said. Packer said that he couldn’t even “get the ball off the ground” a few weeks ago. But a lesson from Mitchell Spearman, a pro in Orlando, Fla., gave him a quick fix on his game. . . . Norman finished at 284.