MARK O'MEARA survived a final hole alarm to win the $1.8 million Greater Greensboro Classic by two strokes yesterday. O'Meara needed to sink a seven-foot bogey putt to be certain of victory, and he did so to collect the $324,000 winner's check.
"I poured it right in the middle," said a relieved O'Meara, who shot a closing three-under-par 69 in a moderate breeze at the North Carolina course. He finished at 14-under 274 for his 12th PGA Tour victory, his second this year, and first in the state. of his birth.
Had O'Meara missed his bogey putt, Duffy Waldorf would have had a chance to tie. Waldorf subsequently missed his four-foot par attempt, but it was academic by then, and he still finished second at 12-under 276 after a closing 71.
"I'm proud of the way I played. I felt I played well enough to win," said O'Meara, whose tee shot at the par-four 18th found a wicked lie in deep rough. With a two-stroke lead, O'Meara did not panic, but he advanced his second shot barely 20 yards, and left his third shot 45 feet short of the pin, before two-putting to win.
"If I had had anywhere near a decent lie I would have parred the last hole," said the US Ryder Cup veteran. "I could hardly get the ball back into play." O'Meara's win was all the more notable because he was in the poor weather half of the draw for the first two rounds.
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