Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, May 14, 1990                   TAG: 9005140070
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

GREG NORMAN FINALLY FOUND AN ALLY IN HIS

Norman, who lost two titles this year when opponents made dramatic shots on the final hole, was declared the winner Sunday at the Memorial tournament in Dublin, Ohio, when more than 2 inches of rain washed away the final round.

Norman, stunned by his good fortune, had inherited the third-round lead after Fred Couples double-bogeyed No. 18 on Saturday.

"I've never had this happen to me before," said Norman, who finished with a three-round total of even-par 216. "I really don't know what to say or what to feel. Nobody likes to win like this."

But Norman will take it. On March 25, Robert Gamez holed a 176-yard pitch for eagle-2 on No. 18 to beat Norman at Orlando, Fla. On April 29, David Frost sank a 50-foot bunker shot for birdie on the final hole to beat Norman by a shot at New Orleans.

Norman called the victory "a good break," but added it did nothing to ease the sting of the losses.

"I don't think about that; there's nothing you can do about that," Norman said.

Payne Stewart finished second at 217 a week after winning the Byron Nelson Classic the same way Norman won Sunday - by rainout. Mark Brooks, Brad Faxon, Don Pooley and Couples tied for third at 218.

Norman's victory on Jack Nicklaus' drenched Muirfield Village Golf Club course enabled him to join Stewart and Gamez as the only two-time winners this year.

The ninth victory of his career on the American tour and 61st worldwide boosted Norman into the year's money-winning lead at $761,438. Norman vaulted over Mark Calcavecchia, who withdrew from this event after an opening-round 88.

As bad as things got for Dottie Mochrie's opponents at the Crestar Classic in Chesapeake, Va., they could have been worse.

"I could have played better today, no doubt. I hit it to shoot 63 today; I really did," she said after a round of 4-under-par 68 gave her a nine-shot victory, the second most-lopsided margin ever in a 54-hole LPGA Tour event.

"I guess it was just my week," Mochrie said. "I guess everybody who wins and wins that big feels like everything is going right."

Mochrie, who earned $52,000, completed three rounds on Greenbrier Country Club's 6,275-yard, narrow layout in 200, 16 under par. Chris Johnson, who was playing in the final group with Mochrie, finished at 209 after a closing 69.

"It was fun to watch," Johnson said. "I love to see excellence."

Meg Mallon's 68 left her at 6-under 210.

The record for the largest winning margin at a 72-hole women's event is 14 strokes by Louise Suggs at the 1949 U.S. Women's Open. Cindy Mackey tied the mark at the 1986 MasterCard International Pro-Am.

In Oklahoma City, Jimmy Powell, who has struggled most of the year, shot a 7-under-par 65 to surge past several players and win the Southwestern Bell Classic by three strokes.

Powell's bogey-free round gave him his first victory in six years on the PGA Senior Tour.

The 65 tied the tournament record set by Chi Chi Rodriguez when he won the 1987 title.

Powell's 8-under 208 total for 54 holes on the Quail Creek Golf and Country Club course was three better than Mike Hill, second-round leader Terry Dill, Jim Dent and Rives McBee.