GOLF ROUNDUP : Daly’s 66 Nets His Second Victory by Six Shots

John Daly sent an emphatic message to his doubters Sunday, running away with the $800,000 B.C. Open at Endicott, N.Y.

Daly finished six strokes ahead of the field for his first tour victory since the 1991 PGA Championship.

“It’s great. I don’t think anyone thought I could win one again,” said Daly, who got $144,000 for winning in his first appearance at the B.C. Open.

“I’m just so happy that I won another tournament, and it only took me a year and six weeks to do it.”

Daly had a final-round 66 to finish at 18-under-par 266, one stroke shy of Calvin Peete’s tournament record set in 1982.

One of the tour’s biggest hitters and a gallery favorite, Daly acknowledged it has been frustrating since his unexpected PGA victory, despite coming close this year at the Los Angeles Open (eighth), Kemper Open (second) and The International (fifth).

“I’ve had a couple chances to win some tournaments. I don’t care what anybody says. The first tournament is not the hardest one to win. It’s always the second one,” Daly said.

Daly become the first golfer to win in each of his first two years on tour since Corey Pavin in 1984-1985. Ken Green, Nolan Henke, Jay Haas and Joel Edwards all finished at 272.

Isao Aoki won the senior tour’s Nationwide Championship without picking up a golf club in the final round when rain washed out the last 18 holes at Alpharetta, Ga.

Aoki’s rain-shortened 36-hole victory was worth $120,000 and deprived Raymond Floyd of the opportunity to win his second consecutive senior event. Aoki birdied four of his last five holes Saturday for a six-under-par 66 and a two-round total of 136 to win by a stroke over Floyd, who shot a record 64 on the course softened by light rain the first two days.

Patty Sheehan shot a six-under-par 67 to win the rain-shortened British Open women’s title and complete a unique double in which she won both the British and U.S. Open events in the same year.

Sheehan, who made it into the field when Marta Figueras-Dotti of Spain pulled out Monday, finished with a 12-under 207, three strokes better than Corinne Dibnah of Australia, who closed with a 71.

“Being told that nobody had ever won both titles in the same year put some fire into my you-know-what,” said Sheehan, who earned $85,000, the biggest payday ever on the European tour. “I’m so proud that I’ve achieved it.”

Miguel Angel Jimenez won with a 10-under 274 when Nick Faldo faded down the stretch of the $1-million Belgian Open at Knokke.