Mediate Gets Back to Winner’s Circle

There should be no more questions about Rocco Mediate’s back.

Mediate, who considered retirement during two years trying to recover from back surgery, turned out to be the healthiest player in the Phoenix Open at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Mediate conquered his nerves and two of golf’s most dangerous closers Sunday, shooting an unspectacular par 71 to beat Justin Leonard by two strokes and Tiger Woods by three.

“I knew Justin was going to charge, which he has done in golf; Tiger did charge and just didn’t make anything,” said Mediate, who bogeyed the fifth hole and then had seven consecutive pars before getting a birdie putt to drop. “He hit the shots he had to. He just didn’t convert.”

Mediate started six strokes ahead of Woods and seven ahead of Leonard. He finished with a 72-hole total of 11-under 273, taking home his third championship.

Mediate, 29, won at Doral in 1991, becoming the first to earn a title with his trademark long-handled putter, and at Greensboro in 1993.

He had surgery the next year on the disk that controls a golfer’s rotation, and made only eight cuts in 1995. But he returned to the tour under a special medical extension in 1996, and keyed a successful year with a sixth-place tie in Phoenix that allowed him to regain full playing privileges.

Leonard had a final-round 66, matching the best of the tournament on a markedly tougher TPC of Scottsdale course.

Woods, who won seven of his first 37 tournaments but has gone 13 in a row without a victory, shot 68 after parring the first 10 holes.

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Hale Irwin, a senior who has won more money the last two years than any other player on any tour, cashed in for $230,000 and his first Senior Skins Game title, at Kohala Coast, Hawaii.

Irwin, shut out the first nine holes of the two-day event, began the second by sinking a 22-foot birdie putt worth $90,000 on No. 10. He ran his total up dramatically with another birdie putt, this time from eight feet, for $140,000 on No. 14.

Five-time defending champion Raymond Floyd, shut out the first 17 holes, salvaged his tournament with a one-foot birdie putt to win the final hole and $160,000.

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Australian Jarrod Moseley took advantage of Ernie Els’ problems and rallied from six shots down for his first professional victory at the Heineken Classic at Perth, Australia.

Moseley, a pro for 18 months, shot a closing three-under 69, while Els, the third-round leader, slumped to a 75.

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Results

Top finishers after Sunday’s final rounds:

$3 MILLION PHOENIX OPEN--Par 71

At Scottsdale, Ariz . *--*

Rocco Mediate $540,000 69-67-66-71--273(-11) Justin Leonard $324,000 67-75-67-66--275(-9) Tiger Woods $204,000 71-67-70-68--276(-8) Hal Sutton $144,000 69-70-71-69--279(-5) Bill Glasson $120,000 69-71-70-70--280(-4)

*--*

Next: Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Pebble Beach

$540,000 SENIOR SKINS--Par 72

at Kohala Coast, Hawaii

Hale Irwin: seven skins $230,000

Raymond Floyd: four skins $160,000

Jim Colbert: seven skins $150,000

Next: Royal Caribbean Classic, Key Biscayne, Fla.