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For Tiger, the Price About Right

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From Associated Press

Tiger Woods didn’t win the B.C. Open at Endicott, N.Y.--that went to Fred Funk--but he continued his run toward the earnings total needed for a full time spot on the PGA Tour next year.

Final-round play was suspended because of rain Sunday with Woods on the eighth hole and never resumed. The tournament was declared a 54-hole event and Funk and Pete Jordan--the third-round leaders at 16-under-par--went to a one-hole playoff, which Funk won with a birdie on the first hole.

Woods, who started the day at 13-under along with Patrick Burke, tied for third with Burke and earned $58,000.

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That gave Woods $140,194 in just four tournaments and put him at 128 on the money list--on the brink of earning enough money to finish in the top 125 and earn a full-time PGA Tour card for 1997. If he wins about $20,000--and he has four tournaments in which to do so--he should be a lock.

It’s all academic, actually. Woods was well past the 150th spot on the money list last week--$103,404--and anyone in the top 150 can accept an unlimited number of sponsor exemptions, guaranteeing that Woods will get into any PGA Tour event he wants next year.

The third-place money also made Woods eligible to play in the Disney Classic, the last regular event of the year, since he has surpassed the amount won by the 150th player last year.

For the second consecutive week, the 20-year-old went into the final round with a chance for his first professional victory. But Funk, 40, birdied four of the first six holes at En-Joie Golf Club to get to 20-under.

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The United States routed Europe, 10-2, in the singles to comfortably retain the Solheim Cup women’s team title at Chepstow, Wales.

Trailing, 9-7, overnight and needing to win seven points from the 12 singles matches, the Americans took heart from an early 3 and 2 victory by Michelle McGann over world No. 1 Laura Davies to race to a 17-11 victory.

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Jimmy Powell became the second-oldest winner in Senior PGA Tour history, closing with a six-under-par 66 for a one-stroke victory in the rain-shortened Brickyard Crossing Championship at Indianapolis. . . . Thomas Bjorn became the first Dane to win a European tour event when he shot a final round 70 to edge Frenchman Jean Van de Velde by one stroke in the inaugural Loch Lomond World Invitational at Glasgow, Scotland. . . . Japan’s Jumbo Ozaki won the Gene Sarazen Jun Classic at Nasu, Japan when Typhoon Violet forced the cancellation of the final round.

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