GOLF ROUNDUP : Stockton Rises to a Major Victory

Dave Stockton believed all along that he was the favorite. He just needed 72 holes to prove it.

Stockton, who was captain of the victorious U.S. Ryder Cup team last autumn, overcame a two-shot advantage by a faltering J.C. Snead with an eight-foot birdie putt on the final hole Sunday to win the Senior Players Championship at Dearborn, Mich.

“I had the advantage of winning two majors in my career,” Stockton said. “Plus, I had the advantage of not leading the tournament for three rounds, like J.C. did. I’d much rather come from behind than lead for three rounds.”

Stockton birdied the final three holes and finished with a 69 for an 11-under-par 277, one shot better than Snead, who double-bogeyed the final hole, and Lee Trevino.

It was Stockton’s first victory since joining the Senior PGA Tour in December, two months after the Ryder Cup. He also became the first first-time winner on the circuit this year.

Stockton, who counts the 1970 and 1976 PGA championships among his 11 victories on the regular PGA Tour, earned $150,000 of the $1-million purse.

Snead, who is without a victory since joining the seniors in 1990, led the tournament for 71 holes and had a two-shot lead going into the final hole of the 6,876-yard layout designed by Jack Nicklaus.

But Snead, who was 12-under after 71 holes, drove into a wetland on the left side of the 18th fairway. After a drop, his third shot landed in medium-high grass above and right of the green. He chipped on and two-putted from 12 feet for double-bogey six.

That gave him a three-over 75 for the round and 10-under 278 for the tournament.

“I had 1,000 acres to hit it in with an iron,” Snead said. “If I can’t do that, I don’t deserve to win. The third shot at 18 kicked right. I don’t know how that happened.

“I’ve never been so disappointed in all my life.”

Trevino birdied 16 and 17 to go 10 under. His 20-foot putt for birdie on the final hole broke twice, then slid past the hole and he finished with 68. The $80,000 Trevino earned moved him ahead of Nicklaus on the all-time money list, combining earnings on both tours. Trevino has earned $6,089,331 in his career; Nicklaus $6,076,364.

Jay Haas was bogey-free over the final 54 holes and won the $1.1-million Federal Express St. Jude Classic at Memphis, Tenn., for his first tournament victory since 1988. Haas finished with a tournament-record 21-under-par 263, three strokes ahead of Dan Forsman and Robert Gamez.

Anne-Marie Palli ended a nine-year victory drought by rolling in a two-foot birdie on the first playoff hole to win the $400,000 ShopRite LPGA tournament at Somers Point, N.J.

The victory was only the second on the LPGA Tour for Palli, 37, who made up two strokes on the final hole of regulation to force a playoff with Laura Davies.

Defending champion Ian Baker-Finch of Australia and former champions Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Greg Norman head the list of exempt players for next month’s British Open golf tournament at Muirfield.

Baker-Finch, Player and Nicklaus are among 10 former Open champions granted entry to the tournament. Former champions have won the Open a total 22 times, with Player’s first victory in 1959.