Rookie Wins LPGA Event in Playoff

Rookie Karrie Webb won the LPGA HealthSouth Inaugural in a playoff Sunday at Orlando, Fla.

Webb, who finished second in last week’s LPGA Tournament of Champions, tapped in for par on the fourth extra hole and claimed the $67,500 winner’s check when Jane Geddes rolled a five-foot putt wide of the cup.

Geddes bogeyed the last hole of regulation to fall into a three-way tie with Webb and Martha Nause at seven-under-par 209 on the Lake Buena Vista Course at Walt Disney World.

The leaders returned to the 18th tee and played it four more times before the tournament was decided. Nause bogeyed the first extra hole to fall out of the running, and Webb wasted chances to win on the first three playoff holes.

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South Africa’s John Bland birdied the final two holes to overtake defending champion Jim Colbert and win the Senior Tournament of Champions by one stroke at Dorado, Puerto Rico. . . . Ernie Els birdied the final hole to win the South African Open at Cape Town.