GOLF ROUNDUP : Love Wins by 8; Pavin Tops Faldo

Davis Love III started the day with a six-shot lead and he wasn’t about to let it get away.

Love eagled two of his first three holes Sunday en route to a six-under-par 66 and an eight-stroke victory in the $1.4-million Las Vegas Invitational.

He finished the five-day, 90-hole tournament at 29-under 331, eight ahead of Craig Stadler. Love was 10 strokes ahead at the turn on the TPC at Summerlin.

The victory was the eighth of his PGA Tour career and second of the season. It was worth $252,000 and increased his season’s earnings to $727,259.

Stadler shot a final-round 65 and earned $151,200, giving him the last of 30 spots for the $3.5-million Tour Championship, which begins Thursday at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Howard Twitty, who came into the week in 31st place, was squeezed out. That’s the last qualifying position, because Masters champion Bernhard Langer of Germany, the No. 13 money-winner, is not a member of the PGA Tour and thus is not eligible.

This was a race for second place from the start.

Love holed a 100-yard wedge shot for an eagle-two on his first hole. On the par-five third, he reached the green with an iron and dropped a 30-foot putt for a second eagle.

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Corey Pavin rolled in a five-foot putt for par on the final hole, capping a battle with Nick Faldo and becoming the first American in 14 years to win the World Match Play Championship.

Pavin got his opening when Faldo landed a three-wood approach shot in the trees on the 36th hole at Virginia Water, England. Faldo, ranked No. 1 in the world, settled for a bogey on the par-five hole, leaving Pavin with the pressure putt to win.

“It was a great match. Up and down all day long,” said Pavin, winning his first tournament in 17 months. “Too bad it had to end on a note like that.”

Pavin’s victory struck another blow for American golf after U.S. victories this year in the Ryder Cup and Dunhill Cup, both also on British soil. Pavin collected $240,000, one of the richest prizes offered in Europe.

The final was a tense affair, though not always brilliantly played on the West Course at Wentworth. After a cautious start, only four of the final 25 holes were tied.

Americans won six of the first 12 Match Play Championships, starting with Arnold Palmer’s victory at the inaugural event in 1964. But Pavin, in his third appearance at the tournament, is the first American to collect the top prize since Bill Rogers in 1979.