Thorpe gains first senior title

Jim Thorpe made an eagle on the final hole of the Transamerica Championship to set a tournament scoring record and win for the first time on the Senior PGA Tour.

Thorpe held off a late charge by Bruce Fleisher, the defending champ, and then finished in style today. After a strong tee shot and approach shot on the par-5 18th, Thorpe made a 30-foot eagle putt from the fringe of the green.

The shot gave him a 7-under-par 65 and a three-day total of 18-under 198. That beat the record of 199 set last year by Fleisher, who wound up three strokes back.

Thorpe made just two bogeys in the tournament's three days at the Silverado Country Club, including a bogey on the 16th hole today that allowed Fleisher to pull within one stroke. But Thorpe got a par on the 17th hole and hit his long putt on the 18th for the win.

He was playing his first tournament since switching to a new Callaway driver last week, and his comfort with the new club showed in a steady three-day performance in which he shot 67-66-65.

It was the first tournament victory of any kind for Thorpe since 1986, when he won twice on the PGA Tour. Thorpe, 10th on the Senior Tour's money list this year, has finished second five times on the circuit, including three times this year.

He won just three times in 459 career tournaments on the PGA Tour.

Fleisher, the 1999 Player of the Year, started the day three shots off the lead shared by Thorpe and Jesse Patino. But Fleisher birdied four holes on the front nine and two more early in the back nine to briefly move within a stroke of Thorpe.

Fleisher birdied the 18th to also finish with a 65.

Jose Maria Canizares followed up his second-round 64 with a 67 to finish third at 14-under. David Graham was another shot back after a closing 68.

Ray Floyd's final-round 64 propelled him from 28th place on Saturday to a fifth-place tie with Patino and Chi Chi Rodriguez, who played three steady rounds for his second strong finish in three weeks. Rodriguez, who closed with a 66, finished in a third-place tie at the FleetBoston Classic two weeks ago.

Patino, a co-leader after each of the first two rounds, faded badly on Sunday with a wildly inconsistent round. His 71 included several missed putts, four bogeys in his first 12 holes, an eagle on the 13th and a birdie on the 18th that moved him into a tie for fifth.

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