GOLF / SENIOR TOUR : Final Hole Almost Beats ‘Greedy’ Gilbert

Gibby Gilbert withstood the challenge of the Senior PGA Tour’s best Sunday golfer, then got greedy.

After battling the relentless pursuit of Mike Hill to take a two-shot lead going into the final hole of the $700,000 Las Vegas Classic at the Desert Inn & Country Club, Gilbert almost blew it all.

“I looked at the scoreboard and saw I had two shots to spare,” Gilbert said. “I also knew I needed another birdie to set a tournament record and earn an extra $5,000. I said I could make a bogey from anywhere and pulled out my driver. I almost didn’t.”

Gilbert had to sink a six-foot putt to avoid a disastrous double bogey and a playoff with Hill. The putt just curled in to give Gilbert a final round two-under-par 70 and a 54-hole total of 204, 12 under par and one shot ahead of Hill. Gilbert’s first victory of the season was worth $105,000.

It’s hard to make a double bogey on the par-four, 407-yard 18th without going into the water, but Gilbert almost managed.

He drove the ball into a fairway bunker on the left. He tried to hit an eight-iron out of the sand, but the ball hit the lip of the bunker and came back into the trap. Then he hit a nine-iron short of the green, chipped to within six feet and had a playoff staring him in the face.

“I told my son (Mark, his caddie), that it was just like a playoff,” Gilbert said. “Only I had the chance to win, and Mike was in the clubhouse. The putt was the only good thing about that last hole. Don’t be greedy.”

Gilbert, playing with a bandage on his injured right wrist, entered the final round with a three-shot lead on the field and was four ahead of Hill.

Hill, who had fired 67s in three of his last four final rounds and is called by fellow pro Rives McBee the best Sunday player of them all, shot a final-round 68. But Hill was disappointed in his play.

When Gilbert bogeyed No. 12, Hill, playing two groups ahead of him, pulled even at 12 under with a birdie on the 13th hole.

“It is disappointing when you have him in your sights, but that’s what happened,” Hill said. “It wasn’t so bad that I made a poor approach and missed an eight-footer for par on 14, but I lost it on the next hole.”

On the par-five 15th, which can be reached in two shots, Hill hit a three-iron approach shot that landed just short of the green, but it hit a soft spot and stopped instead of rolling up near the pin.

“That would have changed the whole game,” Hill said in an interview session taking place while Gilbert was playing 18. “Even so, I had only a 4 1/2-foot putt for birdie and pushed it.”

Then Hill learned that Gilbert was in trouble.

“I better go put my shoes on,” Hill said, cutting short the interview.

He didn’t need them, taking home the $62,300 second prize that sent his tour-leading earnings to $334,970.

Gilbert, who said he watched the scoreboard every chance he had, said he realized early that Hill was in pursuit.

“When I sank the 18-footer off the fringe on nine to go 13 under, I knew that put me two shots in front,” Gilbert said. “But watching the scoreboard, I didn’t see him catch me. It’s just as well.

“But I felt it was my tournament when I sank the 12-footer for the two on 16. It didn’t bother me that I missed a five- or six-footer on the next one.

“Getting greedy was my only problem at the end.”

Gilbert probably didn’t need the extra $5,000--a bonus from a sponsoring hotel chain--because his victory increased his earnings to $287,000.

Bob Charles was third at 206, and Tom Wargo, the Senior PGA champion who was only one shot back with five holes to play, skidded to fifth at 208.