Third seniors' win of season for Loren Roberts

with birdie-birdie finish to Boeing Classic

Mark O'Meara is getting closer but he's still winless on the United States Champions (Seniors) Tour. For the eighth time since joining the over-50s circuit, O'Meara had to settle for second place in the Boeing Classic at Snoqualmie, Washington State on Sunday.
Loren Roberts made a 5ft birdie putt on the 17th to draw level with leader O'Meara and then sank a 3ft birdie putt at the last for victory.
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Roberts finished at 18 under, thanks to a final-round 65 and a fortuitous bounce on 17 when the ball came out of the fringe and trickled its way toward the hole.
"I saw it get a foot up into the fringe. It just goes to show you, and I've said it when I've won, 'Hey, it was my day. I got lucky.' There is a lot of skill involved but it's all a matter of getting the right break at the right time," O'Meara said. "Who knows, maybe that ball could have stayed up there. But it doesn't work that way and he's got the trophy."
Roberts won for the third time this season, adding to victories at the ACE Group Classic and the Senior British Open last month.
O'Meara led by a shot until an untimely bogey on the short, par-4 16th when his second shot bounced on the lip of a bunker short of the green and fell back into the sand. O'Meara rebounded with a birdie on the 17th, but could only manage a par on the par-5 18th when his tee shot found a fairway bunker.
Roberts took advantage. He nearly matched O'Meara's sterling tee shot at 17, a shot that Roberts had been dreading all week. With water fronting the green the pin was placed in the back left corner. Roberts, who struggles with right-to-left shots, got his 5-iron to turn over just enough to catch a ridge separating the green.
But he didn't see the ball hop into the fringe and pop free.
"That's a tough pin for me to get at," Roberts said. "I put probably the best swing of the tournament for me. ... For me to get into position was to make the birdie at 17. I'd been thinking about that hole all week."
Roberts then birdied the final hole with three solid shots. From 50 yards out Roberts used a wedge and hit a low skip shot that landed on the fringe, checked up and rolled just a few feet from the cup. O'Meara was on the driving range prepping for a potential playoff when Roberts dropped his winning putt.
"I'm not going to say second is terrible because it's not terrible," O'Meara said. "But when you've come close as I have and not break through yet, and today could have been a great breakthrough day for me. Unfortunately I'll have to wait until next week."
Dan Forsman and Bernhard Langer finished tied for third place at 14 under. Hal Sutton made a huge charge, shooting a tournament-low round of 63 including an eagle on the final hole. Sutton finished at 12 under and in fifth place.
Second-round co-leader Mark McNulty stumbled at the start with a four-putt from about 40 feet after reaching the par-5 first in two shots. McNulty shot a 3-over 75 and finished in eighth place at 8 under.
Separated by one group, Roberts and O'Meara turned the final round into a two-man match of O'Meara dropping birdies and Roberts matching.
O'Meara made nine birdies, including five on the back nine, with his only blemish coming at the 16th, part of an 8-under 64. But he still hasn't won a PGA Tour sanctioned event since the 1998 British Open.
O'Meara made birdies at Nos. 6, 7, 8, then spun a fairway bunker shot to 6 feet for a birdie at No. 10. He hit another stellar bunker shot at the 12th to about 4 feet and another at the 210-yard par-3 13th, pushed O'Meara to 16 under.
But Roberts answered each charge, thanks to a putter that saw Roberts make just one bogey Sunday - one of only two bogeys the entire tournament.
Roberts birdied Nos. 7 and 8, then saw his birdie putt on 10 do a 360 around the hole and drop to get to 14 under. He pulled even with O'Meara at 15 under with a birdie on the 12th and added another at the 13th, from the fringe, to reach 16 under.
Roberts hit just 23 putts in his round and nine on the closing nine holes. He also closed the gap with leader Fred Funk in the Charles Schwab Cup points race. Roberts now trails by 86 points.
"No question I holed some putts there on the back nine," Roberts said. "I made some putts today, believe me."
FINAL TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
198 Loren Roberts 68 65 65
199 Mark O'Meara 66 69 64
202 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 69 66 67, Dan Forsman 69 67 66
204 Hal Sutton 71 70 63
205 Craig Stadler 70 66 69
207 Mark James (Eng) 71 69 67
208 Mark McNulty (Irl) 68 65 75
209 John Cook 69 69 71, Jeff Sluman 72 69 68
210 Robert L Thompson 72 71 67, Nick Price (Zim) 69 70 71, David Eger 75 65 70, Bob Gilder 70 71 69, Bobby Wadkins 72 70 68
211 Mark Wiebe 72 71 68, Tom Kite 69 73 69, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 76 68 67, Tim Simpson 73 67 71
212 Brad Bryant 71 70 71, R.W. Eaks 70 71 71, Larry Mize 73 72 67
213 Scott Simpson 71 72 70, Mike Goodes 79 66 68, Jay Don Blake 73 70 70, Don Pooley 69 72 72
214 Gary Hallberg 71 72 71, James Mason 69 74 71, Denis Watson (Zim) 76 71 67, Tom Jenkins 74 67 73, Fuzzy Zoeller 71 74 69, Olin Browne 74 71 69, Hale Irwin 70 70 74, Sandy Lyle (Sco) 71 72 71
215 Phil Blackmar 73 73 69, Andy Bean 74 68 73, Russ Cochran 70 70 75, John Morse 76 70 69, John Jacobs 68 71 76, Allen Doyle 68 76 71
216 Bruce Summerhays 75 70 71, Gene Jones 73 72 71, Ben Crenshaw 76 71 69, Ronnie Black 72 72 72, Morris Hatalsky 71 73 72, Bruce Fleisher 73 71 72, Jim Thorpe 76 65 75, Tom Purtzer 76 70 70, Chip Beck 69 76 71
217 Bruce Lietzke 70 74 73, Mike Reid 77 72 68, Joe Ozaki (Jpn) 69 76 72, Jeff Coston 75 72 70, Blaine McCallister 72 69 76
218 Gil Morgan 69 76 73, Kirk Hanefeld 75 70 73, John Harris 71 74 73, Fred Funk 72 74 72
219 Graham Marsh (Aus) 74 74 71, Keith Fergus 77 70 72, Dave Eichelberger 74 72 73, Steve Thomas 74 75 70
220 Fulton Allem (Rsa) 74 71 75
221 David Ogrin 78 70 73, Bruce Vaughan 69 77 75, Jeb Stuart 74 75 72
222 Lanny Wadkins 75 75 72, Jerry Pate 73 73 76
223 Tom Wargo 75 75 73, Mike Hulbert 79 70 74
224 Wayne Levi 72 78 74
225 David Edwards 77 75 73, Tom McKnight 74 76 75
226 Mike McCullough 71 79 76, Lonnie Nielsen 72 77 77
229 Gary Player (Rsa) 77 75 77
234 Jim Albus 84 76 74
236 Isao Aoki (Jpn) 77 78 81