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

DATE: MONDAY, April 1, 1991                   TAG: 9104010086
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PONTE VEDRA, FLA.                                LENGTH: Medium

ELKINGTON'S TPC WIN A STROKE OF LUCK

Steve Elkington made his birdie putt on the 18th hole and Fuzzy Zoeller didn't. That was the difference Sunday as the Australian long shot won The Players Championship for the biggest golf victory of his career.

"I feel very fortunate," Elkington said after Zoeller's putt broke out of the hole. "With Fuzzy coming up there, I couldn't pull against him, but I'm glad it turned out the way it did."

Elkington, 33, a University of Houston graduate whose only previous PGA victory came last year at the Greater Greensboro Open, shot a 4-under-par 68 on the windblown TPC at Sawgrass. That gave him a four-round total of 276.

Elkington three-putted for a bogey on the 17th, then hit a 4-iron approach to 15 feet of the flag on No. 18. When he birdied the hole, he went one stroke ahead of Zoeller, who was playing behind him.

Zoeller, 39, shot his approach to about 12-15 feet. Elkington was watching - and listening - in nervous anticipation as Zoeller approached the green and was greeted by a chant of "Fuzzy! Fuzzy! Fuzzy!"

But Zoeller, a former Masters and U.S. Open champion who hasn't won since 1986, missed the putt, and Elkington won $288,000 and a 10-year exemption from all PGA Tour events.

"The putt tricked me," Zoeller said. "But that happened a lot today."

Particularly down the stretch. He missed birdie putts of about the same distance on both the 16th and 17th greens. Either one would have put him in a playoff.

"The ball just didn't want to go in. You have to accept the fact," said Zoeller, who finished with a 72 for a 277 total. "I hit a lot of good putts, but it was just one of those days."

Paul Azinger, who led through the second and third rounds of the tournament billed as the annual championship of golf's touring professionals, shot a 74 Sunday and dropped into a tie for third.

"I'm very disappointed," said Azinger, a winner earlier this year and the victim of a highly publicized disqualification four weeks ago in Miami. "I couldn't get a putt in. I felt good over every single putt, but they wouldn't fall."

He was at 278 with Phil Blackmar and John Cook, who moved up with a 65 that included a course-record 30 over the back nine.

Blackmar was tied for the lead until he hit into the water on the 17th, took a double bogey and finished with a 70.

Curtis Strange, like the other Americans in position going into the final round, couldn't make anything happen. He shot a 71 and was tied at 280 with Bruce Lietzke and Bernhard Langer of Germany.

by CNB