Smooth Sailing for Cook After Couples’ Rocky 17th

Fred Couples stood on the 17th tee at the GTE Byron Nelson Classic at Irving, Texas, and stared at the green 170 yards away, watching John Cook roll in a six-foot putt to save par.

Now it was Couples’ turn.

He had no doubt about his club when he pulled the six-iron from the bag. And he had no doubt that he had hit a good shot, until he watched it bounce off the rocks and into the water, giving Cook the victory Sunday.

“When it was in the air, I really felt it was going to be a good shot,” Couples said after he closed with a 72 and squandered a four-stroke lead to finish tied for second with Hal Sutton and Harrison Frazar at 12-under-par 268, three strokes behind Cook.

“When it came up short it was shocking,” Couples said about the errant shot that led to a triple-bogey six.

Cook had a final-round 65 to erase a four-stroke deficit and earn $450,000.

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Se Ri Pak completed her wire-to-wire run in the LPGA Championship with a steady three-under-par 68 at Rockland, Del., that completely belied her stature as a rookie who began playing golf just six years ago.

The 20-year-old South Korean became the first rookie to win a major LPGA tournament since Liselotte Neumann won the same event 10 years ago.

Pak finished at 11-under 273 to win by three strokes and earn $195,000. Lisa Hackney, the third-round co-leader, and Donna Andrews finished tied for second.

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Darren Clarke earned $207,000 by winning the Benson and Hedges Open at Thames, England by three strokes at 273.

Starting the final round tied for the lead with the Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie and Italy’s Massimo Florioli, the Northern Irishman birdied five of the front nine holes in a final round 67.

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Larry Ziegler bogeyed the final three holes but still won the Saint Luke’s Classic at Belton, Mo., his first Senior PGA Tour victory since 1991.

Ziegler finished with a two-over-par 72 and a two-under 208 that allowed him to win by a stroke over Tom Shaw and earn $150,000.

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The First Tee program, launched six months ago with hopes of building 100 golf facilities for kids by the year 2000, got a major boost when the PGA of America contributed $6 million.

Motor Sports

Joe Amato, John Force, Jeg Coughlin, and Angelle Seeling won their respective pro categories at the Mopar Parts Nationals at Englishtown, N.J.

The $1.5-million race was the eighth of 22 events in the $30 million NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series.

Tim Fedewa continued a run of success at Nazareth Speedway at Pennsylvania, driving to his second career NASCAR Busch Series victory in the First Union 200. He averaged 90.146 mph.

Paul Gentilozzi outdueled Brian Simo to score his second consecutive NTB Trans-Am Series victory, winning by .587 seconds at Homestead Motorsports Complex at Homestead, Fla. Gentilozzi averaged 77.132 mph.

Tennis

Conchita Martinez ended an 18-month title drought, winning the German Open at Berlin by stopping the surprising run of 18-year French qualifier Amelie Mauresmo.

The little-known Mauresmo, who lost, 6-4, 6-4, said she “had no regrets” after the defeat, after a week in which she upset world No. 2 Lindsay Davenport and No. 3 Jana Novotna.

Just before he was to play Marcelo Rios in the finals of the Italian Open at Rome, Albert Costa announced that a wrist injury would force him to withdraw and Rios won the championship by default.

Top-seeded UCLA defeated Notre Dame, 5-1, in the Minwest Region women’s championship at Champaign, Ill. In the West Regional, top-seeded Pepperdine defeated second-seeded USC, 5-1. The Bruins and the Waves earn a spot in the 16-team NCAA finals scheduled for May 21.

Miscellany

Kenyan Simon Rono got off to a quick start and held off Chicago Marathon winner Khalid Khannouchi to win the Bay to Breakers 12K run at San Francisco with a time of 33 minutes 58 seconds. Kenya’s Jane Omoro won the women’s race in 38:57.

Cathy Nelson scored three goals to lead third-ranked Maryland to an 11-5 victory over top-ranked Virginia at Catonsville, Md., for its fourth consecutive NCAA Division I women’s lacrosse championship.

The U.S. women’s basketball team successfully defended its title at the Slovakia Grand Prix in Myjava by defeating Slovakia, 79-73, in overtime. Natalie Williams scored 20 points and Lisa Leslie had 14.