GOLF ROUNDUP : Lehman Maintains Pace for First Tour Victory

Tom Lehman wasn’t going to coast. With a four-shot lead before his first swing at Muirfield Village Golf Club on Sunday, he had decided he would go for broke.

“My whole game plan was to torch the front nine, go for every pin,” Lehman said. “I wanted to try to lap the field.”

He nearly did. Lehman shot his fourth consecutive five-under 67 for a tournament-record 20-under 268 and a five-shot victory in the Memorial at Dublin, Ohio.

It was a weekend tournament host Jack Nicklaus called “unbelievable,” and it erased the stigma of Lehman’s not having won on the PGA Tour.

It also helped salve his misery at losing the Masters after leading through three rounds.

His lead Sunday was never less than three shots, occasionally up to eight. Greg Norman was second.

Lehman, eyes tearing and voice breaking, held his daughters, Rachel and Holly, in his arms as he called his victory “a thrill beyond belief. It is one of the greatest days of my life.”

He was the 20th different winner in as many tournaments this year, the deepest the tour has gone in a schedule without producing a double winner.

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Raymond Floyd entered the day with a five-shot lead, then blew all but one of the strokes in shooting a two-over 74 to finish at 206, edging Bob Murphy and Gary Player in the Cadillac NFL Golf Classic in Clifton, N.J.

Floyd had to par the final hole for the PGA Senior Tour victory.

He sent his drive way right on No. 18 while Murphy, playing in the group ahead of him, missed a five-foot birdie attempt that would have tied him for the lead.

Floyd then hit a sand wedge, two-iron, 60-degree wedge and putt for his scrambled par.