South Korea’s Kim Takes LPGA Playoff as Teen Fades

On a day when 14-year-old Aree Wongluekiet and veteran Dottie Pepper faded from the lead, Mi Hyun Kim survived a triple-bogey on the 17th hole and a two-hole sudden-death playoff against fellow South Korean Jeong Jang to win the LPGA Safeway Golf Championship Sunday at Portland, Ore.

Kim, the 1999 rookie of the year, gave up the lead twice to Jang on the back nine, but forced the playoff with a birdie on No. 18 to finish with a 72 for a three-day total of one-under 215.

Both women parred the first playoff hole. On the second extra hole, Jang missed a four-foot putt for a bogey before Kim sank her two-foot birdie putt for the victory. It earned her $120,000 and her first title of the year.

Wongluekiet, who was tied for the lead after the first round and second rounds, finished with a 77 for a 220 total. Pepper ended up at 218 in a tie for seventh.

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Justin Leonard shot a six-under-par 64 to win the Texas Open at San Antonio by five strokes. It was his first victory since the 1998 Players Championship.

At the 1998 Texas Open, Leonard bogeyed the final two holes to lose to Hal Sutton by one stroke. He also finished second in 1995.

“I don’t read a lot of golf magazines. I don’t watch a lot of golf on television. But I know that I haven’t won in 2 1/2 years,” he said.

Entering the final round with a two-stroke lead over Mike Wiebe, Leonard had seven birdies against one bogey to finish with a 19-under total of 261. Wiebe stayed close until No. 18, which Leonard birdied and Wiebe bogeyed.

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Larry Nelson, the hottest player on the PGA Senior Tour the last six months, overcame a chilly Texas norther and light rain to shoot a four-under-par 68 and win the Bank One Seniors Championship at Dallas by a stroke.

Nelson, who won for the third time in four weeks and the fifth time this year, had his 24th consecutive subpar round and finished with a 13-under 203 total. The $210,000 paycheck put him on top of the money list with $2,271,555.

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Former PGA Club Pro champion Jeff Freeman had a two-putt par from 40 feet to close out his match on the 17th as the U.S. held on to win the PGA Cup at Newport, Wales, from a team of club pros from Great Britain and Ireland.

Hockey

Marty McSorley goes on trial today in Vancouver, charged with assault with a weapon: his hockey stick. The case stems from McSorley hitting Donald Brashear of the Vancouver Canucks on the side of the head during an NHL game Feb. 21. . . . Pittsburgh Penguin goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin, who lost his starting job just before the playoffs, ended his 2 1/2-week holdout by signing a $700,000, one-year contract. The Penguins also signed center Kip Miller. . . . Left wing Vyacheslav Kozlov signed a two-year contract with the Detroit Red Wings.