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

DATE: MONDAY, June 14, 1993                   TAG: 9306140574
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

PENN WINS MEN'S HALL OF FAME AGAIN

Penn, who won by five shots in 1982 and by four last year, didn't have the luxury of coasting this year. The 6-foot-5, 275-pound player had to birdie the 16th hole to tie, then watched 19-year-old Scott Hunter miss a 3 1/2-foot putt on the final hole to escape with another Hall of Fame winner's trophy.

"This one is hard to believe," Penn said. "I had played only seven rounds of golf all year before this tournament. I really didn't come into this thing thinking I was going to win it."

But as usual, when Penn got the chance, he knocked down the door. Tied with Hunter at 3-over-par heading to the Rock's treacherous par-4 18th, Penn anxiously watched from the fairway as Hunter surveyed his knee-knocker for par. When Hunter's putt hit the left lip of the cup and veered away, the veteran golfer had his chance.

"I knew I had to make 4 to win," Penn said.

And to no one's surprise, he did it.

Penn's 8-iron approach landed 40 feet behind the hole. He cozied his approach putt to three feet from the cup. Then, on a line almost identical to the putt Hunter missed, Penn drained the short one.

"The short one was very missable," Penn said. "I had missed a lot shorter ones than that this week."

If Penn had missed, tournament officials might have been forced to move the sudden-death playoff to Brookside, the popular Williamson Road par-3 course with lights. Another 15 minutes, and Penn would have been putting in the dark.

"It was a long enough day as it was. I sure didn't want to play any more," said Penn, whose group took six hours to play the round.

On a day when rain and the tree-lined layout took virtually the entire field to the cleaners, Penn's final-round of 1-over-par 74 was bettered by only two players: Hunter, who finished with a 73; and Jake Allison, who had a 72.

Penn, who began the day two shots behind leader Lewis Conner, finished with a 54-hole total of 3-over 218. Hunter, whose only mistake all day came on the final hole, finished at 219, followed by Conner (80) and Barry Graham (78) at 221. Allison was fifth at 222, with Hunter Morrissette sixth at 223.

In the team competition, Blue Hills rolled to a nine-shot victory over Roanoke Country Club. The triumph enabled Blue Hills to tie RCC for the most men's team titles in Hall of Fame history. Each has six.

Blue Hills, which fired a stout 5-over-par at Hidden Valley to take an 11-shot lead over the field, simply was too far ahead. As long as Sunday's round was, favored RCC just didn't have enough time to make up its 18-shot deficit.

"Blue Hills won it with its great round at Hidden Valley," said Phil Owenby, RCC's head professional. "It's hard to spot a team like that many shots and expect to win."

Hunter, who began the day five shots off the lead, wasn't thinking about winning. The rising sophomore at George Mason University said he had no idea he was leading the tournament with four holes left, or for that matter, tied with Penn heading to the last hole.

"I just figured I was still a couple shots behind Penn or Conner," said Hunter, who was playing in the next-to-last foursome. "It's probably good I didn't know. Who knows how I would have done if I had known how I was doing."

Hunter quietly moved into contention by shooting even-par 37 on the front nine. He inherited the lead when Conner double-bogeyed and Penn bogeyed the par-3 12th.

Hunter, who had birdied No. 10 to get to 1 under for the day, kept it on automatic, making seven consecutive pars before facing the short one at the 18th.

"I thought I hit a good putt," Hunter said. "It just caught the left edge and spun out."

When returning to his cart, Hunter was told he had been tied for the lead.

"You're kidding me," he said, throwing his hands in the air. "I can't believe it."

Neither could Penn, who still was shaking his head 15 minutes after turning in his scorecard.

"I can't believe that I'm winning golf tournaments," he said. "I just don't think I'm that good."

\ SAND BLASTS: Graham, who hit every green in regulation Saturday at Hidden Valley, met his demise when he made double bogeys at Nos. 9 and 11. "You can't win anything making two doubles," he said. "That ruined me." . . . Conner, who had a three-shot lead at the turn Sunday, crashed on the back nine. He bogeyed the 10th, 14th and 17th and doubled No. 12, when he chunked a 4-iron and left it 60 yards short on the 197-yard hole. "I didn't feel good with my swing," he said. "And when you don't hit it straight here, you're going to shoot big and that's what happened." . . . Arman Fletcher ran out of magic. Fletcher, 65, who was only two shots back after a brilliant 2-under 69 at Hidden Valley, soared to an 86 on Sunday and finished at 229. . . . The final-round scores were among the highest in the tournament's 20-year history. Only 28 of the 108 players broke 80. Penn, Allison and Hunter were the only ones to shoot 75 or better.