Floyd’s Pain-Free Approach a Winner

After the pain went away, Ray Floyd realized he could still play.

Floyd, who hadn’t won in four years, birdied three of the last four holes to win his second Senior Players Championship title by one stroke when Dana Quigley bogeyed the last hole Sunday at Dearborn, Mich.

“It’s been four years, so this is very special,” said Floyd, 57, whose last win came in this championship in 1996. “It’s a major, so when I sit back and think about this, it’s going to be tremendously satisfying.”

Floyd, who started the day at nine under, six off the pace, shot a six-under-par 66 for a 15-under 273 total.

Quigley, who has never won a major championship, shot a 71 to tie for second with Larry Nelson. Nelson shot a 67 despite putting with his three-iron the last seven holes after bending his putter on No. 11.

Tom Kite, seeking his third win and second major of his first season on the senior circuit, took a two-stroke lead over Quigley into the final round, but shot himself out of contention with a final-round 76.

Defending champion Hale Irwin shot a 66 to tie Mike McCullough at 275. McCullough shot a 69.

Floyd, who has been bothered by back and neck injuries, got healthy late last year after changing his exercise routine.

“I always felt I could win when I’m feeling good,” said Floyd, the 16th different winner on the Senior PGA Tour this season. “. . . When I quit hurting, I started playing well again.”

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Loren Roberts got so far ahead in the Greater Milwaukee Open that all he had left to chase was history.

Roberts won for the second time there with the lowest overall score and the event’s largest margin of victory. Playing with remarkable consistency over the final two days, he defeated Franklin Langham by eight strokes.

Roberts, who had a five-under-par 66 on Sunday, set the 72-hole tournament record of 260, breaking the mark set last year by Carlos Franco (264). He also bested Ken Green’s six-shot record margin of victory in 1988.

He even briefly challenged John Huston’s tour record for lowest score in relation to par, but two pars and a bogey on the final three holes left Roberts 24 under, four strokes off the 28-under Huston posted in the 1998 Hawaiian Open.

Roberts, who tied for third in the Masters, won for the first time since last year’s Byron Nelson Classic.

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Annika Sorenstam’s only two birdies came over the final four holes as she defeated Rosie Jones by a stroke to win the Big Apple Classic at New Rochelle, New York. It was her second consecutive win on the LPGA Tour and her fifth of the year.

The victory in the rain-shortened tournament gave Sorenstam one more victory than Karrie Webb this year and moved her past Webb and into the top spot on the money list.

Sorenstam, who started the final round one shot behind Allison Finney and one in front of Jones, had a one-over 72 that gave her a 54-hole total of seven-under 206.

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Teeing It Up

Where golf’s major tours are this week:

PGA

* Thursday-Sunday--British Open, St. Andrews, Scotland

SENIOR

* Friday-Sunday--Bell Atlantic Classic

LPGA

* Thursday-Sunday--U.S. Open, Merit Club, Libertyville, Ill.