Associated Press
The golf roundup …
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C.ó Brian Gay broke the Verizon Heritage scoring mark Sunday, winning by a record 10 strokes to earn his second PGA Tour title.
Gay shot a 64 and his total of 20-under 264 bettered by one Loren Roberts’ winning score at Harbour Town Golf Links in 1996.
His margin over Luke Donald (66) and Briny Baird (68) surpassed the previous best of seven strokes set by five-time champion Davis Love III in 1998.
And this time, Gay got the spotlight all to himself. He raised his arms when it was over, the boats filling Calibogue Sound blowing their horns in triumph.
“I didn’t want to watch the board,” Gay said. “I wanted to stay focused and keep pushing.”
A year ago, Gay’s breakthrough win came at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico. But that was the same weekend Tiger Woods won the World Golf Championships’ Match Play and Gay’s win got shuffled to the background.
So the 37-year-old Gay fashioned a Tiger-style blowout at Harbour Town Golf Links to back up his 2008 success.
Besides a $1.026 million first prize, Gay earned a spot in next year’s Masters.
Gay began the round with a three-shot lead over Tim Wilkinson. Hekept his focus and his fire, essentially wrapping things up two holes into the round ó and never giving the chasers a chance to catch him.
Gay struck his approach to 10 feet on No. 1 for a birdie to increase the lead to four. A hole later, he rolled in a curling, uphill 57-footer for an eagle-3, raising his putter as the ball disappeared into the cup.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
LUTZ, Fla. ó Nick Price won the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am for his first Champions Tour victory, overcoming three double bogeys. Price finished with a two-shot victory over Larry Nelson to end an 0-for-38 streak on the Champions Tour and win his first title since 2002.