Roundup: O’Meara marks 2nd win in row

Monday, Feb. 10, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Mark O'Meara could have faltered on the closing holes of the Buick Invitational, like everyone else.

He told himself otherwise and walked away with another title, another $270,000, another car and a nice dose of consistency.

O'Meara shot a 1-under-par 71 Sunday on the tough Torrey Pines South Course north of San Diego to finish two strokes better than a pack of seven golfers tied for second place.

Former UNLV golfer Skip Kendall matched eight others for low rounds of 69 Sunday and tied Steve Lowery for ninth place to win $42,000.

O'Meara became the first player to win consecutive tournaments since Peter Jacobsen also won at Pebble Beach and then the Buick Invitational in 1995.

O'Meara, who tops the money list, has collected a whopping $710,460 in four tournaments.

Feeling the toll of his one-stroke win over Tiger Woods at Pebble Beach and struggling with his tee shots all weekend at Torrey Pines, his home away from home, O'Meara paused on the ninth fairway and told himself to dig deeper. His goal was to play the back nine in 5-under, which he'd done on Thursday.

He did it in 3-under, good enough to win.

"I was mentally tough today," O'Meara said.

That's the reputation that O'Meara, who turned 40 last month, is making for himself.

Of his 14 career wins, two came in 1995 and another two last year. Now he's won titles on consecutive Sundays.

"I think that I'm kind of a wiser player, you might say. I don't necessarily consider myself a dominant player," O'Meara said. "I think I'm learning more about myself day in and day out, and how to control my emotion. And I've always thrived on the fact that when I've had a chance to win, I get the job done."

* WOODS ROMPS: At Bangna, Thailand, Tiger Woods beat a bout of heat exhaustion and food poisoning and came away from the Asia Honda Classic with a blowout victory, a royal decoration and more than $500,000. "Always keep the game fun," Woods said Sunday after his 10-stroke victory. "Obviously golf is a very serious part of my life, but when you stop having fun at it, that's when it's time to hang it up." Woods headed to Melbourne on Sunday night for the Australian Masters, which starts Thursday.

* SENIORS: At Naples, Fla., Bob Murphy and Vicente Fernandez got a big surprise in the Senior PGA Tour's $1 million LG Championship. They lost. Murphy and Fernandez, playing one group in front of Hale Irwin, took early control of the leaderboard, heading into the back nine locked in a two-man battle. Fernandez eagled a 559-yard par-5 to go to 13-under, while Murphy birdied 10 and dropped an 8-foot putt on No. 13 to take the lead at 14-under. Irwin, meanwhile, was throwing darts at the flag. Irwin birdied three of his final five holes -- including a 40-foot bunker shot on No. 15 -- to earn a one-shot victory Sunday.

* LPGA: At West Palm Beach, Fla., Kelly Robbins and Michelle McGann do well when they work overtime. Robbins parred the second playoff hole Sunday to win the $500,000 Palm Beach National Pro-Am at Ibis Country Club, her fifth title since joining the LPGA Tour in 1992. She has won all four of the times she has gone to a playoff. This matches McGann's 4-0 playoff record as the best on the women's tour without a loss. McGann got her fourth overtime win among six career victories Jan. 19 in the HealthSouth Inaugural at Walt Disney World.