GOLF ROUNDUP : Hobday Gets the Job Done With Final-Round 75

First, Simon Hobday blew a two-shot lead Sunday at the start of the final round of the U.S. Senior Open at Pinehurst, N.C., by making bogeys on his first three holes.

Then, he blew a four-shot lead with five holes to go.

As he marched up the 18th fairway tied for the lead, the free-spirited South African gave himself the choke sign, hand to throat and tongue protruding.

“I was just telling the truth,” he said. “It wasn’t as if nobody knew what was happening. I was choking; definitely choking.”

But when Australian Graham Marsh bogeyed the 18th--his first bogey in 31 holes--Hobday made a two-foot par putt to win.

It gave South Africa a sweep of the 1994 U.S. titles, since Ernie Els won the U.S. Open at Oakmont, Pa., two weeks ago.

Hobday staggered in with a four-over-par 75, the highest final-round score by a winner in the 15-year history of the tournament and the highest by a winner on the over-50 circuit this season.

He escaped with a one-shot victory over Jim Albus and Marsh, winning with a 10-under 274 total.

*

Nick Price benefited from a late collapse by Greg Kraft and won the Western Open at Lemont, Ill., for the second consecutive year, giving him three PGA Tour victories this season.

Price, the only golfer to win more than one tournament this year, shot a final-round 71 and finished at 11-under-par 277, one stroke better than Kraft, who bogeyed four of the last six holes.

*

Bernhard Langer won the Irish Open at Kilkenny, Ireland, giving him at least one European event victory every year since 1978.

*

Tammie Green, an Ohio native, delighted a partisan crowd by winning the Youngstown-Warren LPGA Classic at Warren, Ohio, by two strokes.

Green had a 10-under-par score of 206 for three rounds over the rain-soaked Avon Lakes Golf Course. On Sunday, she completed the weather-delayed second round with a 69 and shot a final-round 70.