TOLEDO, Ohio – Bruce Lietzke began the day with a four-shot lead and played efficient, if unspectacular, golf to hold off Tom Watson and win the U.S. Senior Open on Sunday.

Lietzke’s final-round 2-over-par 73 was a far cry from his round of 64 Saturday but it was enough to give him his first major championship in 53 tries. He finished with a 7-under 277, two shots better than Watson, who had an even-par final round.

After putting out for a bogey on the closing hole, Lietzke was hugged by his wife, Rose, who had flown up Sunday morning from the family’s home in Dallas. Lietzke collected $470,000 for the win.

Argentina’s Vicente Fernandez, who shot a 64 in the second round, was one shot behind Watson in third at 280.

They were the only golfers in the 156-player tournament to finish below par.

Watson, the first-round leader after a 65, never made a serious charge as he and Lietzke eyed each other in the same pairing. Lietzke all but ended any chance for Watson when he rolled in a 7-foot eagle putt on the par-5 eighth hole to expand his lead to six shots.

Lietzke, 51, won for the seventh time since joining the senior circuit in 2001. He had 13 wins on the PGA Tour. He tied for third behind John Jacobs earlier this year at the Senior PGA Championship, the tour’s first major of the year.

In 52 previous starts in major championships – five as a senior and the rest while on the PGA Tour – Lietzke’s best finish was a second to John Daly at the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick. His best previous finish in an Open was a tie for 17th at Merion in 1981.

Almost everyone in the field said that the only way to win at Inverness Club was to keep the ball in the fairway to have a shot at hitting the tiny Donald Ross-designed greens.

Almost everyone was wrong. Lietzke, known as one of the longest drivers on tour, hit just seven of a possible 15 fairways Saturday to take the lead and then managed to find the short grass on only five fairways Sunday.

After Watson had drawn within three shots with three holes remaining, Lietzke picked up a birdie at No. 16 – again after hitting his approach out of the thick steel-wool rough short of the green.

That made Lietzke’s bogeys on the final two holes meaningless.

Stanford wins first

LPGA title at ShopRite

GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Angela Stanford set a torrid pace early and played error-free golf the rest of the way Sunday to win the ShopRite LPGA Classic, her first championship as a pro.

Stanford, who led or shared the lead after all three rounds, shot a 6-under par 65 to finish at 16-under par, three shots ahead of late-surging Becky Morgan.

Annika Sorenstam, who came into the final round four shots off the pace, was unable to mount a challenge, finishing with a 72.

“I believe if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best,” Stanford said.

She did – and then some, besting a 144-player field that included former winners Sorenstam and Juli Inkster, as well as 13-year-old phenom Michelle Wie.

The 25-year-old Stanford, of Saginaw, Texas, is in her third year on tour but hadn’t won an event. Her best finish last year was second. She shared the opening-round lead with Laura Diaz and Kris Lindstrom, but moved out to a one-shot lead heading into the final round.

Toms wins by three shots for second victory of year

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – David Toms shot a 7-under 64 Sunday and won the St. Jude Classic by three strokes for his second victory in eight weeks.

Toms, who won the Wachovia Championship in May, picked up his ninth PGA Tour victory in a town where his swing teacher lives and he visits for duck hunting.

He couldn’t have looked much more comfortable in a final round that had five players tied atop the leaderboard early.

He started a stroke behind Sweden’s Richard Johnson, a tour rookie, but Johnson couldn’t keep pace as everyone attacked the TPC at Southwind course.

Toms separated himself from the pack with an eagle, eight birdies and three bogeys for a 264 total and the $810,000 prize.

Nick Price tied his career-low round with a 62 to finish second at 267. Bob Estes, who won here in 2001, shot a 65 and was tied with Fredrik Jacobson (67) and Johnson (69) at 268.

Lee Janzen, who was tied atop the leaderboard with five holes left, finished with a 68 and tied for sixth with Bob Crane (67) at 269.

Toms stumbled with a bogey on his first hole but birdied his next four for a share of the lead at 16 under. He birdied the par-3 8th to take the lead to himself at 17 under. But Janzen and Price, a two-time winner here, wouldn’t go away.

Janzen birdied Nos. 10 and 11 to drop to 18 under along with Toms atop the leaderboard, while Price, who teed off 80 minutes earlier, birdied three of his final holes to go to 18 under. Toms birdied No. 12, then bogeyed the par-4, 430-yard No. 13 when he pushed a par putt just right.

The toughest hole on the course helped Toms take control.

Janzen, who has not won since the 1998 U.S. Open, three-putted for bogey after putting his tee shot on the left edge of the wide green and dropped to 17 under. Toms put his tee shot in almost the same area and then rolled in a 50-footer across a ridge in the green for birdie and a two-stroke lead at 19 under. It was only the fifth birdie on that hole Sunday.

Toms sealed the victory with his only eagle on the par-5, 528-yard 16th. He put an iron 15 feet from the hole on his second shot and rolled the putt in for eagle and a four-stroke cushion over Price, who then left the course.

Divots: Toms became the 11th player in 25 events to come from behind and win on the final day. … Willie Wood had a hole in one on the par-3 fourth as he used a 5-iron from 186 yards. He shot a 69 and finished at 276. … The PGA Tour had 18 first-time winners account for 20 victories in 2002. … In 46 events in Memphis, only five have been won by first-time PGA Tour winners: Bob Lunn (1968), Larry Mize (1983), Mike Hulbert (1986), Jodie Mudd (1988) and Dickey Pride (1994).

AP-ES-06-29-03 1834EDT