Monday, May 10, 1999
Flesch 2nd again in New Orleans
The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — It's party time in Paraguay.
The tiny, South American country threw a parade for Carlos Franco when he tied for sixth at the Masters. You can imagine what they'll do now that he's won a PGA tournament.
“They have probably already started to celebrate,” Franco said after shooting a final-round 6-under-par 66 Sunday for his first win on the PGA Tour, a two-shot victory in the $2.6 million Compaq Classic. “I'm pretty sure I'll get a parade, maybe more than that.”
Franco, 33, who made his first national impression by holding a brief first-round lead in the Masters, finished with a 19-under 269 to beat Harrison Frazar and Steve Flesch of Union, Ky., and take home the winner's prize of $468,000.
“It doesn't surprise me a bit,” Flesch said of Franco's victory. “I knew it was just a matter of time. He's such a great player.”
Flesch finished second in New Orleans last year, using that as a springboard to tour rookie of the year honors. “This was a hard tournament to win,” Flesch said. “With that many guys making birdies you know if you were just making par they were lapping you.”
Franco grew up in poverty so humbling his family of nine shared food while sitting on the dirt floor of a one-room shack.
“This has been the biggest week of my life,” Franco said. “I never won a bigger tournament than this.”
Franco's score was seven shots off the tournament record, but was three strokes better than the record for the par-72 English Turn course of 16-under set by Brad Faxon in 1997.
Franco offset his only bogey of the day with seven birdies.
Franco came to the 15h hole tied with Flesch and a shot ahead of playing partner Frazar. Franco birdied the hole as Flesch was taking a bogey on 14. “That's when I knew I had won the tournament, on 15,” Franco said.
Franco, who has won 30 tournaments worldwide since turning pro in 1986, learned to play golf as an 8-year-old in Paraguay on the course where his father was the greenskeeper and caddie.
IRWIN WINS WITH EAGLE: Hale Irwin had come close to winning the Nationwide Championship many times. Sunday, he finished the job — dramatically — in capturing his first tournament of 1999.
Irwin, the Senior PGA Tour player of the year the past two seasons, ended his six-month drought by knocking in an eagle on No. 18 to win the Nationwide Championship at Alpharetta, Ga., by two strokes.
It came on a difficult course where he had finished second in three of the last four years and third in 1996.
“I like it,” Irwin said. “You never have an easy shot. Basically, I think that's one of the reasons I play so well here.
“I respond to this course. It's not just ho-hum, hit a driver and hit it again. On this course, you really have to be careful where you put your shots,” he said.
Irwin, who had won 16 times in 1997-98, shot a 69 for a 10-under-par 206 to edge Bob Murphy.
After his eagle on the par 5, 533-yard hole fell in the cup, Irwin raced toward the ropes alongside the 18th green and exchanged high-fives with spectators — same as when he won the 1990 U.S. Open.
Irwin has already committed to play the Kroger Senior Classic, for the first time, at the Golf Center at Kings Island in September.
LPGA TITLEHOLDERS: The Titleholders Championship in Daytona Beach, Fla., a tournament that almost didn't happen, has turned into one that might never end.
The third storm delay in as many days deprived the LPGA Tour of a rare network appearance and forced a Monday morning, back-nine shootout with Becky Iverson, Karrie Webb and Chris Johnson tied for the lead at 14-under.
Iverson started the third round with a four-stroke lead over Annika Sorenstam but dropped two strokes under conditions that symbolized a bizarre final round.
She had to hit a tee shot in the driving rain just before the start of a 31/2-hour storm delay and also lost the club out of her hand, the ball landing in an awkward position left of the greenside bunker. Then she bogeyed her final hole, No. 10, after she and Sorenstam pleaded with a rules official to stop play because of the darkness. Sorenstam missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole and remained one stroke back at 13-under.
Meg Mallon was at 12-under, with Kris Tschetter and Laura Davies another stroke back. Among those at 10-under was Rosie Jones.
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