GOLF ROUNDUP : Robbins Is High and Dry in Winning LPGA Championship

Neither wet, nor cold, nor gloom deterred Kelly Robbins, who birdied three of the final seven holes to surge past Laura Davies and win the LPGA Championship by one stroke Sunday in Wilmington, Del.

This was only Robbins’ third tournament victory, and first in a major event. It came with a three-under-par 68 at the DuPont Country Club course, for a 10-under 274, and netted her $180,000.

“I couldn’t hit the ball much better today,” Robbins said. “I’ve been praying for patience all week, to hang tough under certain situations. To tell you the truth, my heart didn’t start beating until I had that two-foot putt to win.”

Playing in a steady rain and in temperatures that dipped into the lower 50s, Robbins was behind by three strokes with seven holes to play.

She birdied Nos. 12 and 14 to close to within one shot of Davies, the defending champion. After both parred No. 15, the lead changed hands on the 465-yard, par-five 16th.

Robbins put her tee shot to the right of the cart path and then hit her second shot into a bunker. But she chipped to within three feet and made the putt for a birdie, moments after Davies blew a four-foot putt for her only bogey of the day.

“The bogey on 16 cost me the tournament. It was just a nightmare,” Davies said.

Robbins’ victory capped a streak in which she has finished ninth, second, second and first in four tournaments.

“I’ve been playing well for weeks,” she said. “This week I just happened to come out on top, and it being a major makes it that much more special.”

Davies shot a 70, with 15 pars, one bogey and two birdies. She was bidding to win a third consecutive tournament in Wilmington and appeared on her way after finishing No. 11 with a three-shot lead.

It was the seventh time in nine events this season that she finished in the top six.

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Ernie Els sank a critical putt for par on the 12th hole, igniting a late rush that brought him a three-stroke victory in the GTE-Byron Nelson Classic in Irving, Tex.

The U.S. Open champion from South Africa shot a two-under 68 at the TPC at the Four Seasons to finish with a 263.

Mike Heinen and Robin Lee Freeman--each of whom led or shared the lead during the final round--tied for second with D.A. Weibring, who shot a 65.

Els had started the day with a three-shot lead, then fell behind over the front side. After a bogey on No. 11, he had to sink a 15-foot putt to par No. 12 and avoid falling two shots behind.

“It turned everything around,” Els said. “When I made it, I felt something was going to happen.” Els birdied the next four holes and No. 18 for his victory, which was worth $234,000.

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George Archer regained a share of the lead on the back nine with two birdies, then won the Cadillac NFL Golf Classic in Montclair, N.J., when defending champion Raymond Floyd bogeyed the 17th hole and missed a seven-foot birdie putt on No. 18.

Archer had a final-round two-under 70 at Upper Montclair Country Club and finished with a tournament-record 11-under 205 total.

“I kept thinking about it today,” he said. “I kept saying: ‘I’ll have a lot of time to think how I blew this tournament or how I won it. Just think about that tomorrow and not now. Play golf today.’ ”

The victory was the second of the year for Archer, who is fighting a degenerative hip injury, and it handed Floyd, the leading money winner on the tour, his third consecutive second-place finish and sixth overall in 10 events.

“I had great chances at 15, 16 and 18 and didn’t make one putt,” Floyd said. “That really hurts.”