Golf: Armour blitzes Texas Open

SAN ANTONIO - Tommy Armour set the PGA Tour 72-hole scoring record as he coasted to victory in the $US3.5 million ($6 million) Texas Open by a seven-shot margin yesterday.

Armour fired a five-under 65 to finish 26 under on 254, two shots better than Mark Calcavecchia's 256 aggregate at the 2001 Phoenix Open.

Defending champion Loren Roberts carded an eight-under 62 for a total of 261, his winning score last year.

But this year that was only good enough for a second-place tie with Bob Tway, who shot 64.

Duffy Waldorf, who early in the round had cut Armour's six-stroke overnight lead to three, came fourth on 262.

Australia's Aaron Baddeley jumped 18 places up the leaderboard with a 62 to take fifth position on 263.

Armour, the grandson of three-times major champion Tommy Armour, of Scotland, had won only once before on tour, at the 1990 Phoenix Open.

Yesterday's victory was worth US$630,000 to the 43-year-old and gives him a playing exemption through the 2005 season.

Armour also became the fourth successive over-40 to win on the circuit, following Tway, Fiji's Vijay Singh and J. L. Lewis.

Despite working on his swing for the past four months, Armour's best finish of the year was a tie for 11th at the Canadian Open.

He said he was still not sure why he suddenly began playing so well.

"I was thinking about that last night lying in bed before I went to sleep," Armour said.

"I said, 'where in the hell did this come from?'

"I don't know. I guess they call it 'in the zone' or whatever.

"I've always felt I've underachieved, for the talent I have, since I've been on the tour.

"I always have a lot of friends and I've spent a lot of time with them. I take it serious, but it's not the be-all and end-all.

"You only get one trip around life. Golf is just something I love to do.

"I don't play for the money, I never have. I play it because I love it."

* Michael Campbell is still waiting to conquer the famed Old Course at St Andrews after dropping back to finish 11th in the Dunhill Links championship yesterday.

Campbell carded a closing one-under 71 for a 15-under tally on the historic layout and end the £3 million ($8.49 million) event six strokes behind England's Lee Westwood.

Westwood again signalled he is back to near his best after claiming a second European Tour title in five weeks, shooting a final-round 67 for a 21-under tally and one-stroke win over South African Ernie Els.

Another New Zealander, Stephen Scahill, finished three shots behind Campbell on 276 after closing with an impressive 66.

A disappointed Campbell, meanwhile, was rueing the tricky course after being tied for the lead early in the final round.

"It wasn't the sort of finish I was looking for and there was a couple of drives out there today that were about two to three feet from being perfect," he said.

"But that is St Andrews and the Old Course, and you are always learning about the course, whether it's the first day of an event or the last round."

Campbell started his final round two strokes behind Westwood before a two-stroke turnaround put Campbell into a share of the lead when he birdied the second.

But it proved to be the high point of Campbell's challenge as he bogeyed the fourth to drop back to 14-under.

He managed birdies at the seventh and eighth holes to get to 16-under and tie with Westwood, but then dropped a shot at the ninth.

Campbell birdied the 10th hole, but after a bogey at the 15th it was as close as he got to exorcising the ghosts of his 1995 British Open, when he let slip a three-stroke cushion before missing out by a shot on making the play-off.

He finished with three straight pars to earn £54,134 ($153,223) to move from 20th to 18th on the European Tour Order of Merit.

* Swede Annika Sorenstam had back-to-back eagles and shot a final-round 66 at the LPGA Safeway Classic in Portland, Oregon, to defend her title and win her fifth event of the year.

Sorenstam finished at 15-under 201, edging Hall of Famer Beth Daniel by a stroke after starting the day in a three-way tie with Americans Daniel and Cristie Kerr.

- AGENCIES