GOLF ROUNDUP : Frost Rolls to 7-Stroke Victory

David Frost, chatting with the gallery and playing tremendously well, shot a six-under-par 64 Sunday to win the Hardee’s Golf Classic at Coal Valley, Ill., for the second year in a row and win on the PGA Tour for the second consecutive week.

The South African won by seven strokes in finishing with a tournament record 21-under 259 for 72 holes. The previous mark was 19-under by Blaine McCallister in 1988.

Frost is the first player on the PGA Tour to win in consecutive weeks while repeating as a tournament winner since Johnny Miller in 1975.

D.A. Weibring, a two-time champion of this tournament, and Payne Stewart, a winner in 1982, were runners-up at 266.

Frost birdied his first three holes and seven of the first 11 in jumping nine strokes ahead of his playing partner, Weibring. The pair started the day two strokes apart.

On the 18th green, Frost feigned anger after leaving a birdie putt inches short. The crowd roared as Frost smiled broadly.

He earned $180,000 for the victory, lifting his 1993 total to $831,967 and among the top 10 on the tour.

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Gary Player birdied the first five holes and shot a six-under-par 66 in posting a three-stroke victory in the Senior Golf Classic at Lexington, Ky.

He finished with a 14-under 202 for the three rounds. It was his first Senior PGA Tour title since 1991, when he won the Royal Caribbean Classic.

“Any time you win, I think the word is thankful,” Player said. “You could wake up tomorrow and never win another golf tournament. There’s no guarantee to keep on winning.”

Dale Douglass, tied for the lead with Player after two rounds, shot a 69 for a 205. Jerry McGee equaled Player’s low round of the day and finished in a tie for third with Jim Albus at 208.

“He did so well at the start it kind of froze the rest of us out,” Douglass said of Player’s sensational birdie run.

Said Player: “I didn’t feel like I had left anybody after five birdies because Dale played like Houdini. This man is an unbelievable putter.”

Player won $82,500, increasing his earnings this year to $295,691. He has won 17 events as a senior, and $3,091,669.

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Brandie Burton, five shots behind at the start of the round, made a back-nine surge to win the LPGA Safeco Classic at Kent, Wash., by one stroke.

The 21-year-old from Rialto shot a seven-under-par 65 to finish at 14-under 274 on the Meridian Valley Country Club course.

Rosie Jones, who took a four-shot lead into the round, closed with a 71 for a 275. She has finished second in this tournament the last three years. She tied for second in the 1992 Safeco and lost a playoff in 1991.

The victory, Burton’s fourth in three years on the tour, was worth $67,500. Jones collected $41,891.

Patty Sheehan was third at 69--279. Kris Monaghan and Lauri Merten, the U.S. Women’s Open champion, each had a 72 for a 280.

Burton didn’t make her move until the back side. She birdied the fifth hole with a 10-foot putt and ninth with a 30-footer, but still trailed by four.

Jones birdied the second hole with a five-footer. She came out of a bunker and two-putted to bogey the third for her first bogey in 52 holes. She recovered with a seven-foot birdie putt on the fifth.

Jones parred her next nine holes, lipping a 20-footer on the sixth and missing five-footers on Nos. 7 and 8 and a six-footer on No. 9.

Burton, meanwhile, was charging. She hit her eight-iron second shot to within five feet on the 11th and sank a 15-footer on the 12th for birdies. Then she pulled into a share of the lead when she hit her six-iron second shot to five feet on the 14th, and birdied.

Jones bogeyed the 14th after a bad chip shot. Burton hit her eight-iron second shot to five feet on the 16th and birdied, then rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th for a two-shot lead.

Jones, playing for a tie, went for a birdie with a 25-foot putt on the 17th, but left it a foot away. She closed with an 18-foot birdie putt on the 18th.

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Showing the form that twice made him Europe’s No. 1 player, Ian Woosnam of Wales shot a five-under-par 65 at Saint-Nom-La-Breteche, France, to win the Lancome Trophy, beating Ryder Cup teammate Sam Torrance by two strokes.

Woosnam finished with a 13-under 267 on the 6,755-yard Saint-Nom course. He picked up $137,000 and a sizable chunk of confidence before this week’s Ryder Cup clash at the Belfry in Sutton Colfield, England.

It was Woosnam’s 23rd career victory and boosted his earnings to more than $600,000 this year.

Five of the first seven players in the Lancome Trophy will be part of the 12-man team representing Europe against the United States in the Ryder Cup, which begins Friday.

Fred Couples was the only American in the Lancome Trophy. He led after three rounds but dropped four shots to par in the first seven holes Sunday and shot a 71 to finish at 271.