GOLF ROUNDUP : Allem Blows Away Field With a 62

Fulton Allem turned an eight-player race into a rout with an eight-under-par 62 and cruised to a five-stroke victory in the World Series of Golf on Sunday at Akron, Ohio.

Allem, one of eight within a shot of the lead starting the final round, pulled away with six birdies over an eight-hole stretch and never looked back in finishing ahead of Nick Price, defending champion Craig Stadler and Jim Gallagher.

He finished at 10-under 270, providing the South African with a 10-year exemption on the PGA Tour, which he has played since finishing second in the 1987 World Series of Golf.

“The 10-year exemption means everything to me,” Allem said. “To win at Firestone, where it all started for me, against a field of winners, nothing but great players, it’s a very special feeling.”

“He just blew us away,” said Price, who had a closing 68. “He didn’t give us a chance.”

Said Stadler: “I look at the leaderboard and he’s five under. Then I look at the leaderboard and he’s nine under. Are you sure he didn’t skip a couple of holes?”

Stadler, who shot 67, and Price gained a share of second when Gallagher hooked his drive on 18 and made bogey, finishing with a 68. “From a tie for the lead you shoot 68 and get waxed,” he said.

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Brandie Burton made a 20-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to keep Betsy King a frustrated third-round leader and win the rain-drenched duMaurier Classic at London, Canada.

“Being a major, it doesn’t get much sweeter than this,” said Burton, 21, a three-time winner since turning pro in 1991. “I knew it was possible.”

King lost for the seventh time this year after heading into the final round as a leader. She had a three-shot lead after 10 holes and shot a one-under 71 for a seven-under 277. Burton gave away a chance for an easy victory as she led by two on the 18th tee, but double-bogeyed for a 70.

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Bob Murphy, no longer feeling the pain of the arthritis that almost ended his golf career, won for the first time on the Senior PGA Tour with a one-shot victory over Bob Charles and Lee Trevino in the Bruno’s Memorial Classic at Birmingham, Ala.

Murphy birdied two of the last three holes, making a 12-foot putt on 18. He finished the day with a five-under-par 67 and a 54-hole total of 203, 13 under.

Murphy had to quit the PGA Tour in 1989 because his condition had become so bad “I could not put my shoes and socks on. That’s how swollen my feet were.”

He became a television analyst for ESPN and stayed away from competitive golf for four years, until he turned 50 in February.

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Danny Ellis of Haines City, Fla., used a solid driver and took advantage of faulty putting by John Curley for a 5-and-4 victory in the semifinals of the U.S. Amateur at Houston.

His opponent in today’s 36-hole final will be John Harris of Edina, Minn., who gained a 1-up victory over Bobby Cochran.