Golf Roundup : Lietzke Defeats Rose on First Extra Hole

Bruce Lietzke, who hadn’t won a tournament in four years, sank a 20-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole Sunday to beat Clarence Rose and win the windswept $750,000 Byron Nelson tournament at Irving, Tex.

Lietzke, winner of the 1981 Nelson, reached the green of the par-5, 554-yard 16th hole in three, then boldly stroked the putt, which hit the back of the hole and fell in.

The victory was worth $135,000, more than doubling Lietzke’s winnings of $101,157 before the tournament.

Rose, a non-winner on the tour, missed the 16th with his third shot but chipped to within three feet on his fourth. He didn’t get a chance at a par putt, however, and had to settle for the $81,000 second prize.

Lietzke scrambled to save par three times on the back nine but couldn’t pull it off a fourth time on the final hole with an outright victory in his grasp. His tee shot found the left rough and his 7-iron was buried in the front bunker. Playing safe to the fat part of the green, Lietzke exploded out and then two-putted from 35 feet for bogey.

Rose had a 69 final round, Lietzke a 70.

Nancy Lopez shot a 6-under-par 66 and scored a runaway eight-shot victory over Jan Stephenson in the $250,000 Chrysler-Plymouth tournament at Middletown, N.J.

The victory made Lopez the first three-time winner of the LPGA Tour this year and the top prize of $37,500 moved her into the top spot in earnings with $189,882.

The victory was also the 39th of Lopez’s career and her fourth in the 13-year history of this event.

The margin of victory was the biggest in an LPGA tournament since 1983, when Patty Sheehan won the Corning tournament, also by eight strokes.

Bruce Crampton birdied the first hole of sudden-death to beat Billy Casper and win the United Hospitals Seniors tournament at Malvern, Pa.

Crampton’s first prize of $33,750 from a purse of $225,000 made him a millionaire on the Seniors circuit with a total of $1,001,441.

Casper shot a 2-under-par 68 in the third and final round and Crampton a 69. At the end of 54 holes at the Chester Valley Country Club, they were tied at 5-under 205.

Casper lost a chance to win the tournament when he missed a two-foot putt on the 18th green for his first bogey in 41 holes.

Mark James shot a 2-under-par 68 and withstood a late challenge by fellow Briton Nick Faldo to win the $330,000 Spanish Open by three strokes for his first European tournament victory in two years.

James, a three-time Ryder Cup player, finished at 18-under-par 262 over the par-70 Royal Pedrena course at Santander, Spain, while Faldo also had a 68 for 265.