Pairs crucial

Press, 28 August 1984, Page 44

Pairs crucial

NZPA-AP Ohio Denis Watson scrambled to the pars he had to have and won the NEC world series of golf at Akron when his last serious challenger, Bruce Lietzke, hit into the water on the sixteenth hole. Watson, the South African who won the first title of his four-year American tour career two weeks ago in the 'Buick Open, collected this one with great saves of par over four consecutive holes starting on the fourteenth. He had a final round 70, even par over the 7173-yard Firestone Country Club course, and finished the 72 holes on 271, nine-under par. Watson, aged 28, who took the lead in this elite, international event with a course record of 62 in the second round, collected $U5126,000 from the total purse of SUS7OO,OOO, more than doubling his previous earnings

and placing his season’s total at $243,924. He also joined the Americans, Tom Watson, Bob Eastwood, Peter Jacobsen, Tom Kite and Gary Koch and the Australian, Greg Norman, as the multiple winners this season. Lietzke, of the United States, saw his last chance fade when he missed a birdie putt on the seventeenth. The game’s most successful cross-handed putter finished with a 70 and a 273 total, worth $U575,600. Eastwood and Jacobsen, each with a closing 69, shared third at 275. Two shots further back were the Americans, Scott Simpson, who had a 67, and Craig Stadler, with Norman and Kite on 279. Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson each had a final round of 66, which lifted Nicklaus to 280 and Watson to 284.