Burton Rights Herself, Holds Off Sorenstam in Major Win

The doubt that first crept into Brandie Burton’s head two years ago, when she wondered if she would ever win again on the LPGA Tour, returned at the worst possible time Sunday at Windsor, Canada.

She stood over an unpredictable lie in the rough, 75 feet from the hole on the par-five 17th, knowing she had to get up and down for birdie to hold off Annika Sorenstam in the final round of the du Maurier Classic.

Burton lifted the heel of her wedge to keep it from getting caught in the thick grass, a shot she calls one of her specialties. After a couple of practice swings, she backed off.

“You’ve hit this shot a million times,” caddie Tim Atsedes reassured her. “It’s the right shot.”

Burton pitched to within four feet for birdie, then saved par with an eight-foot putt on the final hole to win the du Maurier, an LPGA major tournament, by one shot over Sorenstam.

“This is a tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders,” Burton said.

Burton closed with an even-par 72, which was still enough to set a tournament record at 18-under 270. That’s the lowest score in relation to par ever at a women’s major. Betsy King had a 17-under 267 in winning the 1992 LPGA Championship.

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Nick Price won the FedEx St. Jude Classic at Memphis, Tenn., with a birdie on the second hole of a playoff with Jeff Sluman after the two finished 72 holes at 16-under-par 268.

Price made up two shots by eagling the par-five 16th for the third time in four days. He had a chance to win in regulation, but missed a seven-foot birdie putt on No. 18.

Both parred No. 18, the first playoff hole, and Price did it from a fairway bunker.

Sluman put his tee shot into the water right of the fairway on the second extra hole, the 375-yard, par-four No. 12. He then hit his third shot to about 12 feet, but never got to try his par putt because Price rolled in a 20-foot birdie try for his second St. Jude title. He also won in 1993.

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Gil Morgan played a third day of nearly flawless golf to win the Utah Showdown at Park City by four shots over Isao Aoki and John Mahaffey.

Morgan shot a five-under-par 67 to finish at 200 for the 54 holes, playing a bogey-free tournament. It was only the ninth in Senior PGA Tour history and the first since Hale Irwin did it at last year’s Vantage Championships. Morgan recorded his fifth win this season, tying him with Irwin for the tour lead, and his second in four weeks.

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Singles victories by Kellee Booth and Brenda Corrie-Kuehn with four matches to go gave the United States an insurmountable lead and a win in the Curtis Cup for the first time in eight years.

The U.S. beat Great Britain-Ireland, 10-8, in the two-day amateur competition at Minneapolis.

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Results

Final results after Sunday’s play (Complete scores, C13)

LPGA du MAURIER CLASSIC--Par 72

(at Windsor, Ontario)

Brandie Burton, $180,000: 68-64-66-72--270

Annika Sorenstam, $111,711: 68-66-67-70--271

Betsy King, $81,519: 64-69-70-72--275

Next: Star Bank LPGA Classic, Thursday through Sunday at Country Club of the North, Beavercreek, Ohio

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PGA ST. JUDE CLASSIC--Par 71

(at Memphis, Tenn.)

Nick Price--x, $324,000: 65-67-70-66--268

Jeff Sluman, $194,400: 70-67-66-65--268

Glen Day, $122,400: 69-64-72-65--270

x--won playoff on second hole

Next: Buick Open, Thursday through Sunday at Warick Hills Golf and Country Club, Grand Blanc, Mich.

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SENIOR PGA UTAH SHOWDOWN--Par 72

(at Park City, Utah)

Gil Morgan, $150,000: 66-67-67--200

Isao Aoki, $80,000: 70-68-66--204

John Mahaffey, $80,000: 70-66-68--204

Next: Burnet Senior Classic, Friday through Sunday at Bunker Hills Golf Club, Coon Rapids, Minn.