Andrade Heeds Clemens’ Advice

Roger Clemens didn’t only win a playoff game Saturday night for the New York Yankees. He also helped Billy Andrade win a golf tournament.

Clemens gave Andrade a pep talk via telephone from the clubhouse just before he went out to pitch the first inning against the Seattle Mariners, telling his golfing buddy to go out and win one himself.

Andrade did just that Sunday, shooting a 68 to hold off Phil Mickelson to win the Invensys Classic at Las Vegas and salvage the most miserable year of his career.

“He went out and had his career game. I felt I had to go out there today and duplicate it,” Andrade said of Clemens. “He told me to just finish it up, and I did.”

The call from Clemens came after Andrade finished tied for the lead Saturday, and just after Clemens came from the bullpen after warming up for what would be a one-hit shutout against the Mariners.

It wasn’t the first pep talk from Clemens, who became friends with Andrade while pitching for the Boston Red Sox.

Last month in Texas, Clemens tried to urge his friend out of a terrible slump that had seen him shoot 75 in the first round of the Texas Open. Andrade came back with a 66 the next round, but didn’t make the cut.

“Roger chewed me out for a half hour then,” Andrade said. “He said you just got to keep it simple, stupid. He just gave me a good pep talk.”

The way Andrade played this week, it seemed the message worked. Coming to Las Vegas, he was 159th on the money list and had already sent his check to the PGA Tour for qualifying school.

*

Saved by a curling, 50-foot putt on the 18th hole, defending champion Spain beat South Africa, 2-1, in a riveting finish to win the last Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews, Scotland.

The putt by Miguel Angel Martin rolled up a slope and onto the green, with the ball just falling into the cup. That forced a playoff that Spain won when David Frost missed a three-foot putt on the first extra hole.

“Miguel may not be big in size, but he has the heart of a lion,” Spanish teammate Jose Maria Olazabal said.

With Frost and Martin going to a playoff tied at 74, Miguel Angel Jimenez gave Spain the lead with a 70 to beat Retief Goosen by two strokes. Ernie Els finished with a 68 to beat Olazabal by two shots and tie the championship low total of 340.

In the semifinals earlier in the day, South Africa downed Wales, 2-0, and Spain beat Argentina, 2-1, to make the finals for the third consecutive year. South Africa was bidding for a third title in four years.

Martin’s comeback provided a stirring finish for the Dunhill Cup, being replaced after 16 years by a pro-am event called the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

*

After 25 career victories and six major championships, Juli Inkster admits her victory dances still need improvement.

The way she’s been playing, she’d better start working on some fancy new steps.

Inkster beat Annika Sorenstam by four strokes to win the Samsung World Championship at Vallejo, Calif., punctuating her steady three-under round of 69 with a par-saving putt from the fringe of the 18th green.

The Hall of Fame golfer finished at 14-under, tying the tournament record on a Hiddenbrooke course that baffled most of the elite field of 20 golfers. Inkster earned $152,000 for her third World Championship in four years.

About 18 months after she said she would consider retiring this fall, Inkster is in dominant form. The World Championship was her third victory of the season and her first wire-to-wire win since 1992. The retirement talk is also on hold.

“It was fantastic to win it this way because there’s not a slouch in this field,” Inkster said. “I felt good about my swing all week. I thought I played terrific all week.”

After Inkster sank her putt, she did a little celebratory dance that may well have embarrassed her two young daughters.

*

Jim Thorpe won his second consecutive tournament, shooting a six-under-par 66 for a two-stroke victory in the Senior PGA Tour’s Gold Rush Classic at Sacramento.

Thorpe, who won the Transamerica Championship last week for his first senior title, finished with a 21-under 195 total, the lowest score on the tour this year.