Long Putt Gets Norman Out of Rut

Frustrated and stuck in a pack, Greg Norman decided he had had enough.

The man whose last PGA Tour victory had come in March of 1996, six weeks before he blew a six-stroke lead in the final round of the Masters, birdied the final three holes--the last with a 30-foot putt--for a one-stroke victory Sunday in the St. Jude Classic at Memphis, Tenn.

Norman won $270,000.

“I don’t know whether it’s relief,” Norman said. “I think it’s more elation than relief because I knew I was playing well.”

Norman had won his fifth Australian Open title in November and also won the World Championship of Golf in January, but he had been having trouble on the PGA Tour despite three top-five finishes in eight previous events this year.

Norman didn’t clinch his victory until sinking the 30-foot birdie putt on the par-four 18th hole, avoiding a playoff with Dudley Hart.

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Michelle McGann closed with a bogey-free 64 to win the Shoprite LPGA Classic at Somers Point, N.J., by three strokes over Annika Sorenstam.

McGann finished at 12-under-par 201, erasing the tournament record set last year by Dottie Pepper by one stroke. Sorenstam, in the top three for the ninth time in 13 tournaments this year, finished second at 204. Juli Inkster was third at 206.