Leonard Barely Holds On; Reid Wins Senior PGA

Justin Leonard sure knows how to make things interesting.

Leonard frittered away most of the largest lead on the PGA Tour this year before pulling out a one-stroke victory over David Toms in the St. Jude Classic on Sunday at Memphis, the first wire-to-wire win of his career and the second on the tour this year.

Starting with an eight-stroke lead, Leonard closed with a three-over-par 73 to finish at 14-under 266.

“It’s a good thing I had an eight-shot cushion, because I was able to stay out just enough in front of a great round by David,” Leonard said.

Toms, the two-time defending champion, helped spice up the final holes with a 63 that included four birdies, an eagle and a bogey on the back nine.

He waited on the practice range and signed autographs while waiting to see whether Leonard would slip enough to force a playoff.

“It made it interesting at least,” Toms said.

Leonard gave himself a needed cushion when he chipped within seven feet and made the putt for par on the par-four 17th.

“At that point after an eight-shot lead has diminished to two, let’s just get it in the house,” Leonard said of his decision to stay as far away as possible from the water lining the left side of No. 18.

“It wasn’t going to be a pretty win no matter what I did on 18. At that point, I didn’t care. I just wanted to get it in.”

He did just that as he hit his tee shot into a fairway bunker and put his second shot 44 yards short of the green in the rough in front of the grandstand. He took relief with a drop, then chipped over a bunker within 34 feet and putted out for his bogey and the victory.

Leonard, the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic winner in January, joined some select company with Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Kenny Perry as multiple winners on the tour this year. It is the first time Leonard has won two events in a year since 1997, when he won the Kemper Open and the British Open.

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The Senior PGA Championship was Dana Quigley’s to win all day, then Jerry Pate’s. Somehow, Mike Reid won it instead.

Reid, down by three shots with one hole to play, forced himself into a three-way playoff with Quigley and Pate with a long eagle putt on No. 18, then birdied the same hole during the only playoff hole for his first tournament win since 1990.

Pate missed an eight-footer for birdie that would have forced a second playoff hole, and Quigley was out of it after hitting his second shot into the water on the 515-yard, par-five hole.

“I’m as shocked as anybody,” said the 50-year-old Reid, who wasn’t eligible for the Champions Tour until last year and hadn’t won since the 1990 Casio World Open in Japan.

Reid was down by six shots with eight to play and three shots with only the 18th left, only to drop a 30-footer for an eagle three while Pate bogeyed by three-putting from 18 feet.

Quigley, playing in his 259th consecutive senior tour event, led Pate by three shots with eight to play after he eagled No. 10 and by two shots with four to play. But Quigley took a bogey on the par-three 17th when he hit into a bunker and then missed his par putt from six feet.

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Jimin Kang aced the 15th hole just moments after a deflating bogey and shot a six-under 66 to win the LPGA Corning Classic at Corning, N.Y., edging Annika Sorenstam (69) and rookie Meena Lee (67) by two strokes for her first title.

Kang and Lee began the final hole tied at 15 under, two shots ahead of Sorenstam. Lee then self-destructed with a double bogey, clearing the way for Kang.

Hee-Won Han (72), who began the day one shot behind third-round leader Karine Icher, and Moira Dunn (68) finished four shots back. Icher had three double bogeys on the back nine and finished at 10 under after a two-over 74.

Track and Field

Given the chance to finally compete in Europe, Marion Jones had another disappointing performance.

Jones finished second in the 100 meters in the FBK Games at Hengelo, Netherlands, finishing in a modest 11.29 seconds. Chandra Sturrup of the Bahamas won the race in 11.15, and Britain’s Joice Maduaka was third in 11.46.

Being allowed to race at all seemed to be a small victory for the three-time Olympic champion.

She has been shunned by many European meet organizers since being linked to the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid scandal.

But the Dutch crowd saved its loudest applause of the day for Jones, and she was mobbed afterward by autograph seekers.

“It was obvious today that people want to see me run,” she said.

But they aren’t seeing the Jones of old.

American Allen Johnson won the 110 hurdles in a meet-record 13.18.

Miscellany

Louisiana State’s Mark Growcott and Ken Skupski defeated defending national champions Sam Warburg and K.C. Corkery of Stanford, 7-6 (1), 6-4, in the semifinals of the NCAA men’s tennis championship at College Station, Texas.

Growcott and Skupski will play Georgia’s top-ranked team of John Isner and Antonio Ruiz, who beat Harvard’s unseeded team of Jonathan Chu and Ashwin Kumar, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4.

In singles, San Diego’s Pierrik Ysern advanced to today’s title match with a 6-4, 6-4 win against Izak van der Merwe from Old Dominion.

Ysern will face Benedikt Dorsch of Baylor, who defeated Chu in the semifinals, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Indianapolis Colt safety Mike Doss was arrested at Akron, Ohio, on gun charges. Police heard five or six shots coming from outside a restaurant and found a gun in Doss’ vehicle.

The 24-year-old Doss was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, discharging a firearm within city limits, inducing panic and obstructing official business. He posted bond and was released pending a court appearance.

Mike Hercus became U.S. rugby’s all-time leading scorer as the U.S. defeated Romania, 28-22, in the Super Cup tournament at Tokyo.