GOLF / LPGA : Homecoming a Celebration for Walker

Colleen Walker, who grew up five miles from Wycliffe Golf and Country Club in Lake Worth, Fla., had a victorious homecoming Sunday, beating Dawn Coe in a sudden-death playoff.

The victory in the $400,000 LPGA tournament was worth $60,000.

Walker, 36, started the final round two strokes behind co-leaders Coe and Pat Bradley.

While Bradley’s quest for victory No. 31 sank when she hit into water on the seventh hole for a double-bogey, Walker made four birdies as she and Beth Daniel fought head-to-head at nine-under from Nos. 13 to 17.

“I knew it wasn’t over (after Daniel faltered),” Walker said. “You can’t count your eggs (sic) before they’re hatched.”

Walker ended up with a four-under-par 68 to finish at 279, nine-under for 72 holes. Daniel had a 70 to finish a stroke behind Walker and Coe, who also had a 70.

Bradley had a 74 for 283.

Daniel hooked a five-iron into the gallery on the par-4, 380-yard 18th hole and slid a 12-foot putt for par wide. Walker, a five-time winner on the LPGA Tour, narrowly missed a 30-footer for birdie.

She settled for par and awaited Coe’s final attempt to tie.

Coe, playing in the final group with Bradley and Swedish rookie Helen Alfredsson, had knocked in a 40-foot birdie putt on 16 and made a 20-footer on 18 to force the playoff.

“It was kind of nerve-racking,” said Coe, 31, who had never been in a playoff before and is still winless in nine years on the tour.

Coe’s drive on the first extra hole (18) sliced into a fairway bunker about 145 yards from the green. Her pitch was about 40 feet shy of the pin.

Meanwhile, Walker, a veteran of three playoffs, was on in two and only three feet away from a sure victory.

Coe’s attempt to save par slid by the hole for bogey 5.

Walker, who has since relocated to the west coast of Florida in Brandon, then dropped in the winner.

Jayne Thobois had a final-round 65, tying the course record.