DAVIES EARNS SKINS RICHES : SINGLE PUTT GETS ENGLISHWOMAN $300,000 PRIZE.

Byline: Associated Press 

Laura Davies sank a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 14 for a single-hole record $300,000 on Sunday to win the JCPenney/LPGA Skins Game in Frisco, Texas.

It was the most Skins Game money ever won on one hole, including the PGA and Seniors skins.

Davies had left a 12-foot putt short on the 12th hole, a miscalculation that cost her $220,000. Faced with a putt of the same length two holes later, the long-hitting Englishwoman would not make the same error.

``That was the most nervous I've ever been over a putt,'' she said.

Davies finished with a LPGA Skins Game record $340,000, giving her a career record total of $480,000. Defending champion Dottie Pepper and 1995 LPGA Player of the Year Annika Sorenstam finished with $100,000 each.

Pepper pushed her career skins earnings to $460,000, second to Davies. Beth Daniel became the fourth player in the six years of the competition to finish with no money.

Davies, the first-day leader with $40,000, left her birdie putt on the par-4 12th hole 8 inches short. On the 170-yard par-3 14th, Davies hit an 8-iron to the right of the pin.

This time she told herself to be more aggressive and rolled in the right-to-left putt.

``I was thinking about the money, I have to admit that I was,'' Davies said. ``I didn't want to leave it short like I did on the other putt. If you miss it, you get nothing. I was shaking for the next hour.''

Rosie outlook: Rosie Jones arrived for the $600,000 Corning (N.Y.) Classic less than 24 hours before her opening tee time and wound up with her seventh career victory. She shot a 3-under-par 69 to beat Val Skinner by two stokes.

``I know this course like the back of my hand,'' Jones said. ``I could walk out like I did this week and just play. I might not even need a yardage book.''

She arrived late for the tournament Wednesday because of a court date. Jones' dog apparently bit a man working on her house in Atlanta.

Jones went to a driving range outside Corning the afternoon before the tournament and didn't step on the hilly, 6,062-yard course at Corning Country Club until Thursday morning when she started the first round. She three-putted one green all week.

``I didn't play protecting my lead,'' Jones said. ``I didn't play any different than I did all week.''

Another first-timer: Steve Stricker shot a 3-under-par 68 and became the fifth new winner on the PGA Tour this year, beating three players by three strokes to capture the $1.5 million Kemper Open in Potomac, Md.

In steady rain, Stricker took the lead with a birdie at No. 5 and an eagle at the sixth, then held on and finished with a 270 total. Mark O'Meara, Brad Faxon, Grant Waite and Scott Hoch tied for second.

The other first-time winners this year came in a five-week span in March and April: Tim Herron at the Honda Classic, Paul Goydos at the Bay Hill Invitational, Scott McCarron at the Freeport-McDermott Classic and Paul Stankowski at the BellSouth Classic.

Putting lesson: Isao Aoki made the winning putt in the BellSouth Senior Classic with a helping hand from John Jacobs. Aoki sank a 28-foot birdie putt on the final hole in Nashville, Tenn., to win the tournament by a stroke over Graham Marsh and Jay Sigel.

Just before Aoki attempted his putt, Jacobs missed a par putt on the same line. Aoki watched for a clue on how hard to hit his own putt.

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Photo

Photo: Isao Aoki of Japan exults after sinking a 28-foot bi rdie putt on the final hole of the BellSouth Senior Classic. He won by a stroke.

Associated Press