GOLF / SENIOR TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP : Hobday Wins When Gilbert, Stockton Falter

Simon Hobday, chain-smoking to try to calm his nerves, took advantage of mistakes by his opponents for a two-shot victory Sunday in the Senior Tour Championship.

While Dave Stockton and Larry Gilbert found trouble, Hobday won with a bogey-free closing round of five-under-par 67 and scored the second victory of the season with a 199 total, 17 under par on the Dorado Beach Resort course.

The victory was worth $150,000--the largest check of Hobday’s career--from the purse of $1 million.

Gilbert, who played the first 53 holes of the three-day event without a bogey, was tied with Hobday going to the final hole, but he hit into the sand, three-putted and made double bogey. That left him with a closing 69 and a tie for second with defending champion Raymond Floyd at 201.

“It’s a cruel game sometimes,” Gilbert said.

Earlier, Stockton hit a four-wood second shot that found the water on the par-five 13th. The bogey cost Stockton a shot at Lee Trevino’s single-season money-winning record of $1,190,518.

Stockton slipped to a 70 and was fourth at 202. He won $60,000 and finished the season with $1,175,944.

“They weren’t choking,” Hobday said. “I was choking. I was shaking like a dog out there. Larry gave it a full run and Stockton got a little unlucky there on the back.”