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| July 16, 2002 | Tuesday | Jamadi-ul-Awwal 5, 1423 |
Sluman atones for last year’s debacle
MILWAUKEE (Wisconsin), July 15: Jeff Sluman birdied four straight holes on the front nine and then played steady golf the rest of the way for a four-shot victory in the Greater Milwaukee Open on Sunday.
Sluman’s early birdie run put him at 23-under-par for the tournament.
He made another birdie and one bogey coming in for a three-under 68, his highest score by two shots of the four rounds.
Tim Herron’s five-under 66 lifted him into a second-place tie with Steve Lowery.
Kenny Perry placed fourth, five shots behind Sluman.
Joey Sindelar, Australia’s Greg Chalmers and J.P. Hayes placed in a tie for fifth.
Last year, Sluman had held the 54-hole lead in Milwaukee only to fade in the final round and finish 10th behind winner Shigeki Maruyama.
After setting a scoring record for 54 holes in the event on Saturday, Sluman had Loren Roberts record low score of 24-under for 72 holes well within his sights, but finished one shot short of tying that two-year-old mark.
When Sluman made the turn at three-under on his round, he had a four-stroke lead over the second-place Lowery.
On the 10th hole, however, Sluman made his second bogey of the day and only his third of the tournament, while Lowery birdied, cutting the lead to two shots.
Lowery followed with bogeys on the 11th and 13 holes while Sluman was making pars.
A birdie on the 14th gave Sluman a four-shot lead again over the field and despite a couple of drives that went to the right on the 16th and 18th holes, Sluman was able to par his way in for his first victory of the season.
The win was worth $558,000 to Sluman, who won this event in 1998.
Sluman said the run of pars on the back nine was part of his plan after the 14th hole.
Only three players had been within five shots of Sluman after the third round, but each of them — Lowery, Kirk Triplett and Chalmers — wilted.
Triplett, four shots from the lead when the final round began, could never get his round going.
When he played the front nine in one-over, he was all but out of contention and finished in a tie for eighth place.
Chalmers also faded early with one-over front nine.
He mounted a late charge with four birdies and a bogey in his final six holes, but it wasn’t nearly enough to catch Sluman.
The 28-year-old Chalmers, still seeking his first PGA Tour win, did manage his best finish of the season, a tie for fifth.
Lowery was the last to drop away.
He did make a long birdie putt on the 17th that gave him the runner-up tie with Herron.
Leading final round scores (U.S. unless stated):
261 Jeff Sluman 64 66 63 68
265 Tim Herron 68 66 65 66, Steve Lowery 66 65 64 70
266 Kenny Perry 64 70 67 65
267 Joey Sindelar 69 68 65 65, Greg Chalmers (Australia) 67 66 65 69, J.P. Hayes 68 69 63 67
268 Tommy Armour III 63 67 71 67, Kirk Triplett 66 64 67 71
269 Skip Kendall 68 67 69 65, Chris Smith 67 70 64 68
270 Mathew Goggin (Australia) 70 69 67 64, Chad Campbell 66 66 71 67, Robert Damron 69 63 71 67, Steve Stricker 65 72 66 67, Dan Forsman 69 63 69 69
271 Kaname Yokoo (Japan) 68 71 67 65, Grant Waite (New Zealand) 70 66 70 65, Kelly Gibson 65 70 71 65, Bart Bryant 70 67 71 63, Scott Hoch 69 64 70 68, Jess Daley 67 67 68 69, Bob May 68 67 66 70
272 David Berganio Jr. 69 70 68 65, Rich Beem 69 70 69 64, Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan) 68 67 68 69
Other international players:
274 Glen Hnatiuk (Canada) 69 70 68 67, Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 65 70 69 70
277 Phil Tataurangi (New Zealand) 70 66 71 70
278 Bradley Hughes (Australia) 66 68 73 71
280 Richard Zokol (Canada) 70 67 71 72, Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 70 67 65 75, Carlos Franco (Paraguay) 68 65 71 76.—Reuters
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