GOLF ROUNDUP : King Wins LPGA Title by 11 Strokes

Betsy King, mastering a tough course, devastated the competition and rewrote the record books Sunday at Bethesda, Md., in coasting to her first LPGA Championship.

King shot a five-under-par 66 for an 11-stroke victory, the 26th of her career and fifth in a major championship. It was the largest margin of victory in the 38-year history of the tournament, breaking the record of 10 strokes by Patty Sheehan in 1984.

King’s 267 over four rounds was an LPGA record in any tournament.

“This being a par-71 kind of helped a little bit,” she said. “But you wouldn’t expect that on this golf course. It’s not that easy.”

King, 36, made it look that way. She completed four trips over the 6,246-yard Bethesda Country Club course with 19 birdies and only two bogeys. She led the event from start to finish and became the only player in LPGA history to shoot four rounds in the 60s at a major championship.

“One of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen,” JoAnne Carner said. “Especially on this course, where you can’t afford to make a mistake.”

Only 13 other players in the field of 144 broke par. The 53-year-old Carner, Liselotte Neumann and Karen Noble finished tied for second. Dottie Mochrie and Helen Alfredsson were 12 strokes off the pace at 278.

Carner had a 71 Sunday, Neumann a 69 and Noble had the low score of the day, a bogey-free 65.

“I don’t know what course Betsy was playing,” Noble said. “She just couldn’t miss.”

King, who took a five-stroke lead into the final round, made birdies on two of the first three holes--dropping in a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 3--to erase any notion that she might fall back into the pack. She also had birdies on Nos. 6, 12 and 18.

King earned $150,000 to move past Beth Daniel into the No. 2 spot on the tour’s all-time money list. She has won more than $3.5 million since joining the LPGA in 1977.

On the fairway leading up to the 18th green, King smiled as she traded high-fives with dozens of fans in an uncharacteristic show of emotion.

“I felt I had to do something,” she said.

The Byron Nelson Classic, which has a history of weather problems, added a whole new chapter.

No round ended on the day it started and the tournament at Irving, Tex., was shortened to 54 holes. The winner was decided in a four-way playoff among the third-round leaders.

Billy Ray Brown dropped a 15-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to win the playoff.

Ray Floyd, Ben Crenshaw and Bruce Lietzke were the others in the playoff.

Brown’s victory was worth $198,000 from the purse of $1.1 million and pushed his season earnings to $412,598. Lietzke, Floyd and Crenshaw each won $82,133.

Jim Woodward, 34, a non-winner in his third season on the tour, was the major casualty of the reduction to a 54-hole format. He completed 54 holes one stroke behind the playoff quartet. He was two under after three holes of the fourth round before play was halted and, technically, was atop the leader board.

When officials determined the tournament would be shortened to a 54-hole format, however, all scores reverted to three-round totals and Woodward missed the playoff.

Defending champion Mike Hill used a string of five consecutive birdies on the way to a 64 and a two-stroke victory in the rain-shortened senior tour Doug Sanders Kingwood Celebrity Classic at Kingwood, Tex.

The tournament was cut to 36 holes after Saturday’s round was washed out. Sunday’s round was delayed for four hours because of lightning.