Mize Starts Quickly to Beat Zoeller by One Shot

Larry Mize, overcoming Fuzzy Zoeller’s four-stroke lead in the first four holes, shot a four-under-par 68 Sunday to win the Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Mich., by one stroke.

“It was nice to catch him early, but I wasn’t really thinking about that,” Mize said. “There was so much golf left to be played.”

Mize earned $180,000 when he sank a six-foot par putt on the 72nd hole to avoid a playoff with Zoeller and finish at 16-under-par 272. Zoeller closed with a 73. Greg Norman was third after shooting a 65 for 274.

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Dana Lofland-Dormann defeated Donna Andrews by one stroke to win the $500,000 McCall’s LPGA Classic at Stratton Mountain, Vt.

Lofland-Dormann, who carried a one-stroke lead over Andrews into the final round, shot a 69 and finished with a tournament-record 13-under-par 275 to earn $75,000.

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Bob Betley shot a three-under-par 69 for a one-stroke victory in the $750,000 PGA Bank of Boston Senior Classic in Concord, Mass. He completed 54 holes with a 204 total for his first victory.

Miscellany

Kirk Book, a national water ski racing champion from Carlsbad, fell and required stitches after cutting his forehead on a ski while traveling faster than 60 m.p.h., ahead of the field for the 62-mile Catalina Ski Race between Long Beach and Catalina Island.

Lee Squier, 39, of Long Beach won the men’s race in 55 minutes 3 seconds. Lori Dunsmore, 35, of Lomita led the women in 1 hour 4 minutes 46 seconds.

Gerry Tatrai of Australia won the men’s portion of the 12th annual Race Across America, finishing the 2,910-mile race from Irvine to Savannah, Ga., in 8 days 20 hours 19 minutes.

The VISA USA decathlon team, led by Kip Janvrin, took five of the top six places and beat Germany’s team Zehnkampf by more than 1,000 points in a dual decathlon competition in Aachen, Germany.

Germany’s Stefan Schmid was the individual champion with 8,061 points.

Troy Dumais won his third gold medal, in the 13-and-under one-meter springboard, and Bryan Gillooly (boys 16-18 three-meter springboard) and Michelle Davison (14-15 girls platform) won their second at the National Junior Olympic Diving Championships in Pasadena.

Franziska van Almsick won her record-tying sixth gold medal as the European Swimming Championships closed at Sheffield, England. Van Almsick, 15, won the 50-meter freestyle in 25.53 seconds.

Ron Braaksma of San Bernardino won the top fuel hydroplane title in the Mission Foods Summer Showdown at Castaic Lake.

Pro Volleyball

Top-seeded Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan won their eighth consecutive pro beach volleyball title in the $20,000 Coors Light U.S. Open at the Long Beach Promenade. Kirby and Masakayan defeated second-seeded Barbra Fontana and Lori Kotas, 15-9, to improve to 69-5.

Top-seeded Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes beat sixth-seeded Eduardo Anjinho and Jose Loiola of Brazil, 15-11, to win the $100,000 Miller Lite Open at Grand Haven, Mich. Fourth-seeded Linda Hanley and Jackie Silva upset top-seeded Holly McPeak and Cammy Ciarelli, 15-14 in overtime, to win the women’s title.

Name in the News

Harold P. Fagan, who built race cars for NASCAR’s Winston Cup division for 32 years, died Friday at 52 in Charlotte, N.C., of cancer.