Leonard wins British Open; Tiger fades with
triple bogey
By RON SIRAK
Associated Press
TROON, Scotland - Jesper Parnevik knew the score this time
- and that Justin Leonard was the British Open champion.
Three years ago, Parnevik didn't look at the leaderboard and
lost the British Open to Nick Price on a needless gamble.
On Sunday, he watched as Leonard shot one of the great finishing
rounds in major championship history to win an Open that Parnevik
led by as many as four strokes on the final day.
The crushing blow came on the 17th hole when Parnevik stood
on the tee and saw Leonard roll in a 35-foot birdie putt to take
the lead for the first time all week.
"I just knew from about 3 feet out that it was right in
the center of the hole," Leonard said. "That's when
the hair on the back of my neck stood up."
Parnevik bogeyed the hole to fall two behind and the tournament
was over.
"I came up to 17 and watched his birdie and the air kind
of went out of my sails for good," Parnevik said.
It was just 10 miles down the coast at Turnberry where Parnevik
failed to look at the scoreboard on the final hole in 1994 and
made a bogey to finish one stroke behind Price.
"This one hurts a lot more than Turnberry," the Swede
said. "I think the pressure was too much. It was a struggle
all day."
As Parnevik walked up the 18th fairway to a thunderous ovation,
the inescapable truth was written in the black letters on the
giant yellow scoreboard: He was second once again.
"This one is probably going to stick a little bit longer
than last time," Parnevik said. "This time, I actually
thought I was going to pull it off."
If not for Leonard, he likely would have done so.
The 25-year-old Texan closed with a 65 to win the 126th Open
at 12-under-par 272 by three strokes over Parnevik and Darren
Clarke of Northern Ireland.
Jim Furyk was fourth with a 279 and Padraig Harrington of Ireland
finished at 280 along with Stephen Ames of Trinidad.
Tiger Woods stumbled once again, making a triple bogey on the
par-3 eighth hole in shooting a 74 to finish 12 strokes back.
Woods, who started the day eight stroke behind, made a bit
of a run with two early birdies, but lost any hope on the 126-yard
Postage Stamp hole when it took him two shots to get out of a
bunker.
Big numbers did Woods in at Royal Troon: He had two triple
bogeys and a quadruple bogey.
Leonard's closing round ranks with the 67 by Nick Faldo in
the 1996 Masters, the 64 by Greg Norman in the 1993 British Open
and the 63 by Johnny Miller in the 1973 U.S. Open.
All of them shot scores no one else could come near on the
final day. So did Leonard. Of the 16 players who started the day
under par, Leonard was the only one to shoot a round in the 60s.
"Just to be able to come through with the tournament on
the line, that's the kind of confidence I'll be able to take away
from here," Leonard said.
He joins Jim Barnes in 1925 as the only players to start the
final round five strokes behind and win the British Open.
As Leonard brushed back tears when he was awarded the silver
claret jug that goes to the winner, the scoreboard carried the
message: "Well done, Justin. See you at Royal Birkdale in
1998."
Leonard, the fifth consecutive American to win at Troon, starting
with Arnold Palmer in 1962, was a picture of calm on the course.
"I think part of that, being five back, I had maybe a
little bit more relaxed attitude," Leonard said.
"I thought more about the Ryder Cup team, knowing I could
lock it up today," he said. "Then I thought: 'Wait a
second. You're playing a golf tournament here and a lot of things
can happen.' "
Needing only to two-putt on the final hole, Leonard stroked
his 30-footer gently toward the hole, gave out a big sigh and
rolled his eyes as it nestled within tap-in distance.
"That last putt, I was just praying that I could two-putt,"
Leonard said. "It was surprising how calm I stayed."
It was the first major championship for the 25-year-old Texan
who has now won three tournaments in less than a year.
Leonard won with a hot putter that helped him get six birdies
on the front nine to get back in the hunt. He then closed with
a series of great putts to blow past Parnevik.
"Making those putts on 15, 16 and 17," Leonard said,
searching for words to describe the feeling. "The hole just
opened up for me today."
Leonard made a 12-footer to save par on the 15th.
"That was the tournament right there," Leonard said.
He followed it with a 15-footer for birdie on the next hole
and then the 35-foot birdie putt on No. 17.
Parnevik, meanwhile, missed a 5-foot birdie putt at No. 16
to keep his slim lead, then made two sloppy bogeys on the final
two holes.
What started as a possible Parnevik runaway turned into a tense
tussle when Leonard applied the pressure over the closing holes.
Leonard got to 12 under and took the lead with the birdie on
No. 17. He then waited on the 18th tee right near the 16th green
as Parnevik attempted his birdie and drove on the final hole after
he heard the groan.
Parnevik, who handled the difficult back at a cumulative 6-under
par in the first three rounds, played those holes 3-over par under
Sunday's pressure.
With the bill of his cap turned up, his blonde hair wildly
poking out beneath the brim, his bright purple pants and a golf
tee stuck behind his right ear, Parnevik looked like he should
be playing a club match rather than the British Open.
But the free spirit was all business on the course.
He started the day two strokes ahead of Clarke, but after a
birdie on No. 3 was four shots ahead. Leonard moved within three
strokes with a run of three consecutive birdies starting at No.
2.
Parnevik made a bogey on No. 6 when his second shot landed
in a pot bunker 40 yards short of the green and all he could do
was pop it back to the fairway.
He made a great par save on No. 8 when he hit into the right
bunker and blasted a very tricky shot to 5 feet and made the putt.
He stood to his full height as the ball fell in, turned toward
his wife, Mia, and two young daughters and saluted them with a
raised fist over his head.
Meanwhile, Leonard was inching forward.
He pulled within one stroke with a birdie on No. 9 and then
both he and Parnevik made a bogey on the difficult 10th hole.
Parnevik got that stroke back with a 25-foot birdie putt on
No. 11, but then things fell apart, beginning with a bogey on
No. 13 when he hit the rough twice and then missed a 5-foot putt.
Leonard reeled off five pars - the best being the scrambling
one from the rough on the 15th - then closed out the tournament
like a champion with birdies on Nos. 16 and 17.
Leonard's victory meant that along with Woods in the Masters
and Ernie Els in the U.S. Open, all three major championship winners
this year were in their 20s.
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