Golf Roundup : Bunker Shot Sends Strange on Way to a 2-Stroke Win

Curtis Strange rallied with a 5-under-par 67 Sunday to win the Memorial tournament at Dublin, Ohio, by two strokes for his second victory of the season.

Strange twice trailed by one stroke and once blew a three-shot lead in his three-way struggle with South African David Frost and Hale Irwin.

Strange, the PGA Tour’s leading money-winner in 1985 and 1987, took command with a bunker shot that set up a 2-foot putt for birdie-4 on the 15th.

He didn’t trail again and got the 14th victory of his 12-season PGA career with a 274 total, 14 under par on Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village Golf Club course.

The victory was worth $160,000 from the total purse of $1 million and boosted Strange’s earnings for the year to $362,965.

He also moved into the No. 6 spot on the all-time money-winning list--passing Lee Trevino and Ben Crenshaw--with $3,478,454.

Irwin, the 42-year-old veteran who led through the second and third rounds, chipped in from 30 feet for a birdie on the final hole that gave him a tie for second with Frost.

Irwin had a closing 70 and a 276 total. Frost, who once held sole control of the lead, had a closing 69.

Sherri Turner shot a 2-under-par 70 to win the $325,000 LPGA Corning Classic at Corning, N.Y., for her second consecutive victory.

Turner, winner of the LPGA Championship last week, had a four-round total of 15-under 273 to earn a prize of $48,750.

South Korea’s Ok-Hee Ku, who battled Turner for the lead for most of the final two rounds, and JoAnne Carner, who had the day’s best round at 6-under 66, finished two strokes off the pace at 275.

Although Turner said other players had warned her she might have a letdown after her first tour victory last week, she said: “It worked different for me. I haven’t come down yet. I’m still up from last week.”

Spain’s Severiano Ballesteros finished with two birdies for a 1-under-par 71 and took the lead by one stroke after the third round of the $561,000 European PGA tournament at Wentworth, England.

Ballesteros, who began the day in third place, has a three-day total of 206. Bernhard Langer of West Germany, the defending champion and leader after the first two rounds this year, shot a 74 to fall into a five-way tie for second place at 207.

Langer blamed changing his putter at the last-minute for his slump. “It was the worst decision I ever made,” said Langer, who upon approaching the first tee after a turn on the practice green, had instructed his caddie to bring another putter.

“That club will definitely go in the trash. The ball just didn’t roll when it came off the club.”

Bob Charles chipped in from the back fringe of the green on the final hole for a 3-under-par 69 and a two-shot victory over Orville Moody in the $275,000 Seniors Tour tournament at Albuquerque, N.M.

Charles, scoring his second straight win on the Seniors Tour, finished the 54-hole tournament at 10-under 206. Moody, who missed his academic birdie attempt, settled for par for a 208 total.