| Doyle
wins by two shots
Allen Doyle birdied
four of the final seven holes today for a 7-under-par 65 and a two-shot victory
in the inaugural TD Waterhouse Senior PGA Championship.
Doyle, who made only one bogey over the 54 holes, finished with an 18-under 198
total for his fourth victory of the year. He finished two shots in front of second-round
leader Ed Dougherty and three in front of Gil Morgan. Both Morgan and Dougherty
shot 68s. Larry
Nelson, Jim Colbert, Jim Thorpe and David Lundstrom all were at 204, while Graham
Marsh was another stroke back.
The win was worth $180,000 to Doyle, who joined the Senior PGA Tour last year.
He increased his 1999 earnings to $1,533,266, third on the money list.
Tied for the lead with
Dougherty and Morgan after both birdied the par-5, 530-yard 11th, the 51-year-old
Doyle broke out of the three-man shootout with superb iron play. He hit an 8-iron
within 5 feet on No. 12 and a pitching wedge within 4 feet on No. 13. The birdies
gave him a two-shot lead.
Morgan and Dougherty got back within one with birdies at the par-3 15th, but Doyle
matched Dougherty's birdie on the par-5 16th to stay one up and then nailed down
the win with a sand wedge to 2 feet for a birdie at No. 17. "The
birdies just started flying," Doyle said. "If someone had asked me if I would
have to shoot 7 under to win today, I would have said probably not. It turns out
I did. I hit some awful good shots coming in."
Dougherty, who had a one-shot lead over Doyle and Morgan after 36 holes, birdied
the first hole Sunday but couldn't get another until the 11th. "I
played a good round, Allen played a great round," said Dougherty, who has two
second-place finishes this season without a win. "He put the pressure on both
myself and Gil. It was pretty good golf coming down the stretch and pretty exciting."
Morgan has yet to win this
year after winning six events in 1998. "Allen
played well and hit a lot of shots close to the hole," Morgan said.
Doyle's other wins this season have come at the ACE Group Classic, the PGA Seniors
Championship, when he shot a final-round 64, and the Cadillac NFL Golf Classic.
AP |