Stadler clinches title with final day 63

Craig Stadler shot a stunning 9-under-par 63 Sunday to come from eight shots behind and win the B.C. Open by one stroke over Alex Cejka and Steve Lowery.

It was the 13th victory on the PGA Tour for Stadler and his second win in eight days. He captured the Ford Senior Players Championship last week.

"It's like la-la land here the last two weeks," said Stadler, who became the first Champions Tour player to win a PGA Tour event. Ray Floyd also won on both Tours in 1992, but he was 49 and still on the PGA Tour when he captured Doral.

"As bad as I played on the West Coast in the spring, I'm playing that good now," Stadler said. "And I have no idea what rhyme or reason there is to it. To go to eight Tour events and miss five cuts -- I was pretty much hating everything about golf."

He's loving the game now. His comeback is the best on the PGA Tour this year and the best in B.C. Open history. Stadler finished at 21-under 267 and pocketed the winner's check of $540,000, the largest of his 26-year career.

Stadler's scintillating performance spoiled what had been a marvelous weekend for Lowery, who entered the day with a five-shot lead over Cejka and rookie John E. Morgan of England.

But after carding a pair of 64s and a 68, Lowery had an even-par 72 to finish at 268. Rod Pampling had a closing 66 and was alone at 269 in fourth, his best finish in two full years on Tour. Morgan finished in a six-way tie for fifth.

Stadler clinched the victory with a birdie at 18, then watched Cejka self-destruct. After sinking a 13-foot birdie putt at No. 16 to tie Stadler for the lead, Cejka parred the short 17th hole. Then, just as he did Saturday, he plunked his tee shot at No. 18 into an imposing fairway water hazard and had to settle for bogey when his putt for par stopped less than an inch from the hole.

"I just turned it a little bit too much, and it just caught the edge," Cejka said of his errant drive. "The putt was good. I thought I had it. It just broke in the end too much."

Stadler was expecting a playoff. Instead, he notched his first PGA Tour victory in seven years.

Stadler also earned a spot in next year's Mercedes Championships -- the season-opening event for 2003 PGA Tour winners.

"I didn't even consider the fact that he might make bogey on 18," said Stadler, who turned 50 in June. "But golf is a fickle game. Strange things happen. I was just kind of waiting until I turned 50 to see what would happen. And all of a sudden I learned how to play again.

"It's the magical number. Get a good bottle of wine, turn 50 and you start playing well."

Lowery will have to wait another eight years. He was unable to generate anything Sunday. He had two bogeys and only one birdie through the first 14 holes and dropped from the lead. A birdie at 18 salvaged the tie for second.

Cejka made birdie on three of his first six holes to move within two shots of Lowery. He faltered with bogey at the par-5 eighth hole after his second shot landed in a greenside bunker and he was unable to get up and down.

Meanwhile, Stadler was playing like a youngster. Although he was so far behind to start the day, it was not an insurmountable margin under the ideal conditions at the short-and-narrow En-Joie Golf Club course. After all, Spike McRoy came from seven back in the final round to win last year.

Stadler went 6 under on the front nine to move into contention, starting his day with a 29-foot birdie putt at No. 1. He had tap-in birdies at Nos. 3 and 5 to go to 16 under, then elicited a huge roar from the gallery with a 48-foot birdie putt at No. 7.

And he wasn't finished. He chipped in from 17 feet on No. 9 after his drive went awry and flew over a cart path along the right side of the fairway, then rolled in a 38-foot putt for an eagle 3 at the 12th hole to tie Lowery for the lead.

"I didn't even consider coming back from eight shots," said Stadler, whose son Chris caddied for the first time. "I just wanted to go out and make some birdies early and shoot a good round. But once the putt went in on 12, there was a little different mindset. I thought I might have a chance."

Stadler birdied 15 to go to 21-under par and knock Lowery from the lead for the first time in the Tournament. Lowery was bidding to become only the second player in the Tournament's 31-year history to go wire-to-wire. Joey Sindelar did it in 1987.

Lowery dropped to 19 under with a three-putt bogey from 32 feet at the par-5 12th hole, and Stadler finally cracked with a bogey at the par-3 17th. His tee shot landed in a bunker to the right of the green, and he made a nice pitch to 10½ feet, but his putt for par stopped an inch short and he fell back into a tie with Cejka.

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