Stockton Masters Open, Holding Off Irwin Rally

In golf, it has become known as a Norman, in honor of a lead blown at the Masters by Greg, and Dave Stockton was in danger of a Norman on Sunday afternoon in suburban Cleveland.

It wasn’t that he was playing badly. He rolled up par after par, 17 in a row, but his lead in the U.S. Senior Open, seven strokes on the field as the day began, was being whittled away by Hale Irwin, who had started the day tied for third, eight shots behind.

After parring the first five holes, Irwin still trailed by eight. But a string of four birdies to finish the front side were followed by birdies at 12, 13 and 16.

All of a sudden, the largest lead in Senior Open history was down to one shot.

Then Irwin blinked. He hit a two-iron to the 218-yard, par-three 17th into the heavy rough right of the green.

His wedge caught in the thick rough and the ball came up 20 feet short. His par putt missed the mark by three feet, the lead doubling to two strokes. Another bogey, on No. 18, made it three, and Stockton could walk down the 18th fairway holding hands with wife Catherine.

“It was a nice walk,” he said.

Irwin was doing what he had to do.

“There was not a choice of what had to happen,” he said after shooting a 67 at Canterbury Golf Club. “The only way somebody else was going to win was for someone to go out and do what I was doing. Even then, he had to make mistakes. I did what I had to do, he did what he had to do. But eight strokes is a lot to make up.”

Too much, but Stockton had to sweat, even without mistakes.

“I welcome the challenge. If I didn’t welcome the challenge, I wouldn’t have been looking at the leader board,” Stockton said after his steady one-over-par 73 to finish with an 11-under 277.

“I don’t put myself in a vacuum. I’m not the type of person who says, ‘I’m going to ignore everybody for four hours.’ It was kind of fun to be challenged.”

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Steve Stricker shot a final-round 69 to finish at 18-under-par 270, eight shots better than the field in the Western Open on the Cog Hill Dubsdread Course in Lemont, Ill.

It was Stricker’s second victory of the year--the first was the Kemper Open in May--and the margin was the Western Open’s biggest in 44 years.

The $360,000 top prize gave him $925,933 for 1996, fourth on the money list.

Billy Andrade tied for second with Jay Don Blake at 10 under and labeled Stricker the tour’s “next superstar.

“He’s just got natural ability. He’s in a category with Davis Love, Fred Couples, guys who make it look so easy,” Andrade said.

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Second-round leader Joan Pitcock shot a one-under-par 70 and held off a charge by Marianne Morris to win the LPGA Jamie Farr Kroger Classic near Toledo, Ohio, for her first tour victory.

Pitcock, who held a three-stroke lead entering the final round of the 54-hole tournament, finished with a nine-under 204 total on the Highland Meadows Golf Club.

That was one shot better than Morris, who closed with a 68.

Pitcock’s previous best finish in nine years was a tie for second.

She lost the lead midway through the round, then moved back into a tie with a birdie on No. 13 and took the lead for good when Morris bogeyed No. 16.