Irwin Beats Trevino by Two Shots

It was a head-to-head duel from start to finish between two golfers who have won a combined nine major PGA championships. For Hale Irwin, it didn’t matter that the man he had to defeat was Lee Trevino.

“That other individual becomes nameless and faceless, really,” Irwin said.

Irwin won his fifth Senior PGA Tour event of the year Sunday, defeating Trevino by two strokes to win the $1.35 million Burnet Senior Classic at Coon Rapids, Minn.

Irwin’s long birdie putt on the par-three 17th at Bunker Hills Golf Course gave him the lead for good.

It was the ninth career Senior PGA Tour win for Irwin, who leads the money list this year at $1,339,561 after taking Sunday’s $202,500 first-place check.

Irwin, a three-time U.S. Open winner, had seven birdies and one bogey in a round of 66 to finish with a tournament-record 17-under total of 199. Trevino, who hasn’t won on the Senior PGA Tour since November, closed with a 67.

Irwin’s record total was two strokes better than the mark set by Chi Chi Rodriguez in 1993 and matched by Raymond Floyd in 1995.

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Michele Redman held off charges from two of the biggest names in women’s golf and scored her first LPGA tour victory with a tournament record at the JAL Big Apple Classic at New Rochelle, N.Y.

Leading from the opening round, Redman, a six-year veteran, dropped two shots over the first three holes but rallied with three birdies for a one-under 70 and a 72-hole total of 272, breaking the tournament mark by a stroke.

“It feels awesome,” said Redman, who won $112,500. “My coach [Sam Carmichael] told me last night I deserved this, and he’s right. I’ve paid my dues.”

She scored a three-stroke victory over Annika Sorenstam, who has won four tournaments this year and 10 overall. Also mounting a last-day challenge was Karrie Webb, a five-time winner.

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Billy Ray Brown, who lost his PGA Tour exemption last year, made a five-foot birdie putt on his last hole to avoid a playoff at the Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic at Madison, Miss., and win his first tournament in five years.

After losing a two-stroke lead with a three-putt double-bogey at the 409-yard 17th, Brown reached the green at the par-five, 532-yard 18th in two before the two-putt birdie that gave him a five-under 67.

Brown finished at 17-under 271, a stroke ahead of Mike Standly, who birdied the same two holes in a closing 66.

Brown won $180,000 and a two-year exemption.

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Craig Steinberg of Van Nuys won his fourth Southern California Golf Assn. amateur championship after shooting three-under-par 67 in the final round at Lakeside Golf Club in Toluca Lake.

He finished with a four-round total of four-under-par 276, one stroke ahead of Jason Gore of Valencia.