THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 11, 1994 TAG: 9407110150
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Long : 119 lines
Mark McCumber may have taken home the crystal trophy when he left the Anheuser-Busch Golf Classic, but there were three winners Sunday afternoon at Kingsmill Golf Club.
While McCumber, who had led after three rounds, fired a final-round 5-under-par 65 to win his second Anheuser-Busch title in seven years, runner-up Glen Day and third-place finisher Justin Leonard stole away from Kingsmill with wide smiles on their faces.
While winning is the ultimate goal for a player like McCumber, who did so for the eighth time in his PGA Tour career, Day is a rookie trying to make a living while his wife sits at home 8 1/2 months pregnant, and Leonard has been a pro golfer for all of a month.
But not everyone had a good time Sunday. Bob Lohr, who set tournament records with an opening-round 61 and a two-round score of 129, bogeyed the first hole and was never in contention after that, finishing with a 72 and 274 total.
Day's final-round 66 vaulted him to a second-place finish, three shots off McCumber's winning total of 17-under 267. Day earned $118,800 for second place.
Coupled with the $148,582 he earned in his previous 18 tournaments this year, Day has more than enough money ($267,382) to finish in the top 125 this season and earn his tour card for next year.
``House payments and diaper money,'' Day grinned.
For a moment, though, Day thought he might win.
After sinking a 15-footer to salvage par at the 14th hole, Day turned to his caddie and said, ``I don't know how we're going to do it, but we're going to catch (McCumber).''
At the time, McCumber was 16-under for the tournament, while Day was 14-under.
It would have helped Day's cause considerably if McCumber missed a couple of greens, which he did at the 15th and 16th holes.
It would have helped even more if McCumber chili-dipped a chip shot, which he did in common-man's fashion at the 15th.
But nobody expected what McCumber did after fluffing a 40-yard pitch from the left rough at the 15th. When his ball came to rest near an irrigation valve box, McCumber was awarded a free drop - then chipped in from 40 feet for birdie-4.
As if that weren't enough, following a 90-minute rain delay, McCumber came up short of the 16th green with his approach shot - and chipped in again, this time from 60 feet for birdie-3.
Day, who by then was on the 17th green, turned and hollered, ``Give me a break, Mark.'' The 16th and 17th greens are less than 100 yards apart.
Day said he didn't see McCumber's chip-in, but knew from the audience's response.
``I knew it just by the way they were cheering,'' Day said. ``We'll be handing out booklets on crowd language later. But a close chip sounds like, `Oooh, OOOOH, Ooh, clap-clap-clap.' One that goes in sounds like, `OoooooOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!' ''
McCumber said it was the first time he could remember chipping in on back-to-back holes in the heat of battle ``since the Jacksonville Junior State Championships.''
``I can't gripe much about chip shots not going in for the next six months,'' McCumber said. ``I guess now I'll be asked to do chipping clinics.''
Day didn't have a lot of room to complain, either; he'd chipped in from 100 feet for birdie-3 at the fourth hole from such a precarious lie that he didn't see the ball go in the hole.
``It was a fantasy chip-in,'' Day admitted. ``My caddie handed me the putter, I looked at him and said, `I can't do any better than that,' and the crowd went wild.''
Most of the day, however, the crowd that followed Day's group had been behind playing partner Leonard, a self-professed ``Cinderella story.''
A victory here would have made the former University of Texas star only the second player to win a tour title as a pro and an NCAA title in the same year. The lone player to do it was fellow Longhorn Ben Crenshaw in 1973.
But Leonard's third-place check of $74,800 gives him $83,680 in three tournaments, enough to allow him to play the remainder of the PGA Tour season without sponsors' exemptions. He had only two remaining, which he was going to use at the New England Classic and St. Jude Classic.
``I knew a good week could take care of it, and I had a great week,'' said Leonard, 22, who closed with a 2-under 69 to finish at 12-under.
For McCumber, the victory meant the end of a five-year drought and seemed to invigorate the chirpy 42-year-old.
McCumber's winner's check of $198,000 was more than he won in either the 1990, 1991 or 1992 seasons, and the victory sends him into the World Series of Golf field, as well as next season's Tournament of Champions and The Masters. ``One of the goals of my career was to win 10 times and to win a major,'' McCumber said. ``I've won one that will someday be a major (1988 Players Championship). I'd like to squeeze an authentic major in there.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photo by BILL TIERNAN
Staff color photo by MOTOYA NAKAMURA
Mark mcCumber reacts after missing a birdie putt during Sunday's
final round. Top photo shows McCumber with his 3-year-old son, Mark
Tyler McCumber.
Staff photo by BILL TIERNAN
Mark McCumber chips onto the green at 18 during the final round of
the Anheuser-Busch Classic.
McCUMBER'S NUMBERS
Career Victories
A-B King's
Winner's check-up
For copy, see microfilm
Charts
ANHEUSER-BUSCH CLASSIC LEADERBOARD
Leader's Scorecard
For copy of chart, see microfilm
by CNB