Golf Roundup : Peete Shoots Rounds of 66, 68 to Win by 5

Calvin Peete said he got tired, but he sure didn’t show it.

Peete, who has won more tournaments in the past five years than any player on the PGA tour (12), shot rounds of 66 and 68 Sunday at New Orleans in the 36-hole windup of the $500,000 USF&G; tournament to win by five strokes.

Peete said he began to feel fatigued halfway through his second trip around the course.

“These 42-year-old legs began to tell off on me,” said Peete, who took up golf at the age of 23.

“What I wanted to do was get off to a fast start, which I did. I just tried to stay with my game plan, which is to try to take advantage of any situation that would allow me to hit a good shot at the flag.”

The $90,000 first prize increased Peete’s earnings for the year to $230,598, tops on the PGA Tour.

Peete’s score of 19-under-par 269 left runner-up Pat McGowan a bit frustrated, even though he picked up $54,000--the biggest check of his career.

“There is a little bit of a letdown when you play a score that you think can win and it doesn’t,” McGowan said after a pair of 68s. “I set a goal of 14-under for the tournament. I thought 14-under would be a good score, but Calvin blitzed that.”

Nick Faldo finished in a third-place tie with Tom Sieckmann, Gregory Ladehoff and Doug Tewell at 277. Each received $24,000.

Don Pooley, who finished in a group with four other golfers 12 strokes behind Peete, shot six straight birdies Sunday to tie the 1986 record set by Tewell at the Los Angeles Open.

Peete, who opened the season by winning the MONY Tournament of Champions at La Costa, became the first golfer on this year’s tour to win two championships. He will try for a third next week when he defends his title at the Tournament Players Championship in Ponte Verde, Fla.

Peete said his big dream, besides hitting a hole-in-one, is a little closer to becoming reality.

“It’s another step toward my goal, to be Player of the Year for 1986,” Peete said. “I feel that what I have to do is not only win, but have a lot of top 10 finishes. I feel I need to continue to play well and have five or six more top 10 finishes.”

Penny Pulz shot a course-record eight-under-par 64 to overtake Pat Bradley on the final three holes and win the $200,000 LPGA Circle K Tucson Open by four strokes over Betsy King.

Pulz, a 33-year-old Australian, started the day seven shots behind Bradley, but wound up winning the $30,000 first-place prize. Her only other LPGA title came in 1979.

She had three birdies and an eagle on the last four holes to finish with a 72-hole total of 12-under-par 276. Pulz’s round of 64 topped the previous record at the 6,124-yard Randolph North Golf Course set by Patti Rizzo in 1982 and tied three times this week--by Bradley, Rosie Jones and Vicki Fergon.

King, who pulled to within two shots of the lead on the 15th hole, posted a final-round 66 for a 280 total and won $18,500.

Bradley, the leader through the first three rounds and through the first 15 holes Sunday, finished with a 76 and was one of three players in third place at 281. The others were Jerilyn Britz, who finished with a 70 Sunday, and Myra Blackwelder, who had a 73.

Fergon was alone at 282 while defending champion Amy Alcott had a final-round 72 for a 283 total.

Bradley, 35, was trying to win her 17th LPGA title in a 12-year career by leading from start-to-finish for only the second time.

She started the day with a three-stroke lead over Blackwelder and led by four at the turn only to see Pulz tie her at nine-under with a birdie on the 16th hole.

Pulz went ahead by sinking a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17th and sealed the victory with a 40-foot put for an eagle-3 at 18.

Bradley, who set 36- and 54-hole tournament records, three-putted for two bogeys and hit into the water for a double-bogey seven on the 16th hole.