Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 16, 1990 TAG: 9004160060
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
And the South African was almost invisible Sunday as he strode up the 18th fairway to a much-delayed and weather-threatened third victory in this event.
He wasn't seen by a national television audience, since the cameras had cut away long before the storm-interrupted finish.
And he was only a shadow to the handful of spectators who stuck around.
It was full darkness and drizzling rain when Player, as usual wearing black, Nicklaus and Trevino putted out in the anticlimax of an anticipated Hall of Fame shootout that fizzled.
"I never made anything happen. Lee never made anything happen. We just never got anything going," Nicklaus said.
As a result, Player was threatened only by the weather. Two storm delays of almost two hours raised the possibility that the round wouldn't be completed until today.
Player, 54, won by two strokes with an unchallenged 73 over the drawn-out final round. He gained his 15th Seniors Tour victory and first of the year with a 281 total, 7 under par.
Despite a lead that ranged up to six shots most of the stormy day, it was not all that easy for Player - even with four strokes in hand and only three holes to go when the last weather interruption ended.
Player squandered two of those shots in a pond by the 16th green, made double-bogey and saw his lead halved.
But he brought it home from there.
Neither Nicklaus nor Trevino could generate a move in what appeared to be a battle of nerves in the early going and turned the anticipated struggle among three giants of the game into a mass of mistakes.
"I know they say they were playing the course, but maybe they were going at each other," Chi Chi Rodriguez said.
Even Player was not exempt from those early, embarrassing problems. He three-putted from two feet on the second hole.
Nicklaus missed from three feet on the same hole, failed from only slightly longer range on the next and hit into the water on the sixth.
Trevino also got one wet, but made a bigger mistake when he whiffed a one-hand stab at a tap-in putt on the sixth.
Player, however, righted himself and got back in control. He birdied the ninth and 10th. By that time, Nicklaus and Trevino were too far back to catch up.
Rodriguez started the final round nine shots behind, too far back to have any real hope of overtaking the leader. But he came on with a 66, the best round of the day, and claimed second alone at 283.
Nicklaus and Trevino tied for third at 285.
Nicklaus, playing in a rare third consecutive event, made only one birdie in a round of par 72. Trevino, winner of three of four Seniors starts, shot a 71.
Arnold Palmer, now 60, had a closing 71 and a 297 total.
by CNB