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Gossett Makes His Way to PGA

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From Associated Press

David Gossett left the Buy.com Tour behind with a big-league finish.

Gossett earned a spot on the PGA Tour through 2003 on Sunday, closing with a five-under-par 66 for a one-stroke victory over Briny Baird in the John Deere Classic at Silvis, Ill.

The 1999 U.S. Amateur champion is the first player to win playing under a sponsor exemption since Tiger Woods in the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational.

“Starting the week, I felt good about my golf game and got myself in good position,” Gossett said. “And just to go out and shoot five under on Sunday, sleep two nights with the lead and go out and play good golf, play solid.

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Gossett finished with a 19-under 265 total on the TPC at Deere Run, and earned $504,000.

The 22-year-old former Texas star is the seventh first-time winner this year. He played 12 Buy.com Tour events this year after failing to gain a PGA Tour card last winter despite shooting a 59 in the qualifying tournament.

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For the second year in a row, Dorothy Delasin overcame a four-stroke deficit and Se Ri Pak in the final round to win the Giant Eagle LPGA Classic at Vienna, Ohio.

Delasin shot a seven-under 65--the lowest round of the day on the Squaw Creek course--to pass both Pak and Tammie Green on the back nine and collect the first-place check of $150,000.

Pak has won eight of the 10 events she has led heading into the final round--with both losses coming to Delasin in the Giant Eagle.

Delasin finished at 13-under 203. Green (68) was a stroke back, and Pak (71) was third at 205.

Last year at Avalon Lakes, Delasin won at age 19 to become the LPGA’s youngest champion in 25 years. She beat Pat Hurst on the second hole of a playoff.

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In a duel between the top two money winners on the senior tour, Allen Doyle made a four-foot par putt on the third playoff hole to beat Bruce Fleisher in the rain-soaked State Farm Senior Classic at Hunt Valley, Md.

The victory was worth $217,500 for Doyle, who moved within $40,590 of Fleisher on the money list.

Playing in a driving rain, Fleisher and Doyle put their second shots into a bunker on the par-four 17th, the third hole of the playoff. Doyle blasted out to four feet before Fleisher hit his shot about 20 feet past the hole.

Fleisher, the U.S. Senior Open winner, two-putted the third playoff hole before Doyle calmly dropped his putt into the middle of the cup.

It was Doyle’s second senior tournament win of the year and seventh of his career.

Doyle shot a five-under-par 67 for an 11-under 205 total in the three-day tournament. Fleisher, who had a bogey and double bogey on the first three holes, recovered to shoot a 69.

Jim Thorpe blew a chance to join the playoff when he missed a five-foot putt on 18 to finish with a 70 and a 10-under total. Thorpe led by two shots after six holes, then three-putted two of the next three holes to fall back.

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Australia’s Ian Stanley won the Senior British Open on the first hole of a playoff with two-time champion Bob Charles of New Zealand at Newcastle, Northern Ireland.

Stanley, who missed a three-foot putt to win on the 72th hole, holed a two-footer for par when they replayed the 18th in the playoff. Charles drove into a bunker and made a bogey.

Stanley shot a 69, and Charles closed with a 68 for six-under 278 totals. Jack Nicklaus, playing in the tournament for the first time, shot a 69 to tie for third, three strokes back.

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Bernhard Langer won the $1.6-million Dutch Open at Noordwijk, Netherlands, defeating England’s Warren Bennett on the first playoff hole for his first title in four years.

He finished with a five-under-par 66, joining Bennett at 15-under 269.

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