Couples Returns to Form and Wins Houston Open

Fred Couples outdueled Mark Calcavecchia and held off challenges from Stuart Appleby and Hank Kuehne to win for the first time in five years, shooting a five-under-par 67 Sunday to win the Houston Open by four strokes at Humble, Texas.

The 43-year-old Couples, looking like the golfer who was dominant in the 1990s, led or shared the lead the first three days.

Three consecutive birdies starting at the 14th hole paved the way for his 15th victory and first since the Memorial Tournament in 1998. He made another birdie on the 18th to finish at 21-under 267.

Kuehne (66), Calcavecchia (70) and Appleby (69), who all held at least a share of the lead on the back nine, tied for second at 271, followed by Jay Haas (68) at 272 and Jeff Maggert at 273. Maggert eagled the first hole and then went on to tie the course record with an eight-under 64.

Kuehne and Calcavecchia were in trouble after finding the water late in their rounds and Appleby’s bid was derailed by a bogey at the 16th hole after an errant tee shot.

With Couples making birdies at Nos. 14, 15 and 16, where his second shot landed a foot from the pin, Calcavecchia fell out of contention for good when his shot at the 17th hole stopped at the edge of the water and he waded in knee-deep to avoid a penalty drop. When his putt for par hung on the lip of the cup for bogey, Couples was home free.

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Se Ri Pak defeated Shani Waugh on the fourth playoff hole to win the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship at Stockbridge, Ga. It was her second victory of the year and 20th of her career.

Pak made an 18-foot putt to save par at No. 10 after Waugh, trying to win for the first time in her career, pulled her tee shot into the lake bordering the left side of the fairway.

Waugh was in position to make bogey, but she never got a chance to putt.

After Pak put her second shot in the thick rough behind the green, without much green to work with, she hit a delicate chip that slid past the hole. Then, she made the putt coming back to end the longest LPGA playoff in four years.

Pak shot a final-round eight-under 64 to force the playoff, tying Waugh (65) at 16-under 200.

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Bruce Lietzke overcame the frustration of a number of missed birdie putts to win the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf at Savannah, Ga., for his first Champions Tour victory of the season.

Lietzke made par on the last 10 holes in a round of one-under-par 71, finishing at 10-under 206, one stroke ahead of Dana Quigley (71) and David Eger (67). Bob Gilder (69) and Hubert Green (71) tied for fourth at eight-under 208.

Lietzke, who began his career playing mini-tour events at the old Savannah Inn and Country Club on nearby Wilmington Island in 1974, earned $350,000 for the win, the largest paycheck of his career. The win was his sixth on the over-50 circuit.

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PGA Results

Final scores from the $4.5-million Shell Open at Houston (Par 72):

*--* 267 (-21)--$810,000 Fred Couples...65-68-67-67 271 (-17)--336,000 Hank Kuehne...69-64-72-66 Stuart Appleby...66-70-66-69 Mark Calcavecchia...68-65-68-70 272 (-16)--180,000 Jay Haas...67-67-70-68 273 (-15)--162,000 Jeff Maggert...71-66-72-64 275 (-13)--145,125 Geoff Ogilvy...70-69-68-68 John Daly...69-69-67-70 276 (-12)--117,000 Peter Jacobsen...67-71-69-69 Kevin Sutherland...69-70-67-70 Vijay Singh...67-68-70-71 Steve Flesch...72-66-67-71 277 (-11)--84,375 Carlos Franco...73-67-68-69 John Riegger...70-68-67-72 David Sutherland...69-67-68-73 Scott McCarron...69-68-67-73 278 (-10)--65,250 Ernie Els...69-69-69-71 Briny Baird...67-71-68-72 Robert Gamez...71-66-67-74 Trevor Immelman...70-68-65-75

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Complete scores...D16