Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 15, 1991 TAG: 9104150051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: AUGUSTA, GA. LENGTH: Medium
For the fourth time in as many years, the green jacket of a Masters winner was draped around British shoulders, with 6-foot-3 Nick Faldo stooping over to adorn the 5-foot, 4 1/2-inch frame of Ian Woosnam of Wales on Sunday.
"He's a winner. He's proved it on the European tour and now he's proved it here," said Tom Watson, the slump-ridden 41-year-old who carried American hopes to the 72nd green of the Augusta National Golf Course.
It was there, after the exquisite pressure and back-nine drama this course seems to produce with such frequency, that the tough little Welshman finally outlasted terminally erratic Watson.
A second double-bogey in nine holes - which went along with two eagles, a birdie and bogey - proved Watson's undoing on the 72nd hole.
Coupled with a scrambling last-hole par from an area rarely visited by professional players, it proved the making of the little golfer from Oswestry, a hamlet on the England-Wales border.
It provided Woosnam with a one-stroke victory over 25-year-old Jose-Maria Olazabal of Spain, made him the only man to win two American tour titles this year and solidified his claim to being - at least at this moment - the outstanding player in the world.
Although a relative unknown to U.S. audiences, the 33-year-old former amateur boxer supports his contention with impressive credentials.
Twice he's led the money-winning list, including last year. He's been a central figure on the European teams that have held the Ryder Cup since 1985.
He's won around the world, 26 times in all - in Hong Kong and Scandanavia, in Kenya and Kapalua, in Paris and Zambia.
Until this southern spring day, however, there was one hole in his record. He had not won one of golf's major titles - the Masters, U.S. and British Opens, the PGA.
He filled in that blank with an 8-foot putt for par on the 72nd hole, a putt that finished off a far-from-routine par round of 72 and a 277 total.
"Obviously, a very tough day," said Woosnam, under attack from a half-dozen players over the final nine holes.
"All I had in my mind was to play steady. I feel a little bit lucky, but somebody has to win it."
And somebody had to lose it.
That turned out to be Watson, the five-time British Open champion who alternated between scoring peaks and emotional troughs over the final nine holes, a stretch that produced three two-stroke swings from Watson to Woosnam, one three-stroke swing and, for Watson, the two double-bogeys and two eagles.
"Obviously, I'm disappointed. I missed some shots I shouldn't have missed today," Watson said.
One was a tee shot into the water on the par-3 12th hole. It produced a double-bogey that dropped him four shots off the pace.
He climbed back on the wings of eagles on Nos. 13 and 15, but made that last, telling, losing mistake on the final hole.
There, his tee shot went right, deep into the towering pines, eventually coming to rest in a bed of needles.
From there he hit into a greenside bunker and eventually finished on the ultimate low note, a 3-putt double-bogey.
It finished off a round of 73 and dropped him into a tie for third at 279 with Steve Pate, 1984 Masters winner Ben Crenshaw and 41-year-old Lanny Wadkins at 279.
Pate, who started the day nine shots off the pace, scored an eagle-3 on the eighth hole, played the par-5s 5-under and saved a 65 with a 45-foot par putt on the final hole.
Crenshaw also had an eagle, his on the 15th, but didn't give himself a chance on the last three holes. He had a closing 68.
Wadkins missed two short putts and twice stubbed chip shots in a frustrating 71.
Jodie Mudd, Australian Ian Baker-Finch and Andrew Magee tied at 280. Mudd shot 69 over the final 18 holes of the year's first major golf championship, while Magee and Baker-Finch each had a 70.
Most of those contenders had a chance to win it all.
But none could withstand the gritty, grinding efficiency and talent of the little Welshman who extended European domination of this event and the world game.
He and the other members of the European Big Six - Sandy Lyle of Scotland, Faldo of England, Seve Ballesteros of Spain and Bernhard Langer of Germany - now have won four Masters in a row, five of the past seven and six of the past 10.
by CNB