FALMOUTH — Sherri Turner’s only other trip to Maine prior to this past week came during the Reagan administration, so all the native of Greenville, S.C., could recall was the size of the mosquitoes.

About the only thing that could disrupt Turner from having a far more memorable stay here the second time, appropriately enough, were some pesky mosquitoes that caused her to step away from a shot momentarily on the 15th hole at Falmouth Country Club.

Other than that, Turner was unstoppable, shooting a 5-under 67 on Sunday to pull away from the LPGA Legends field and win the 36-hole Hannaford Community Challenge.

The 55-year-old Turner, who was tied for second, one stroke behind the leaders to start the day, birdied four times on the front nine and finished at 6-under for the tournament.

“I’m very pleased, obviously,” said an emotional Jones, who now lives in Phoenix. “I’ve been working really hard and it’s been tough because I just lost my mom (Jerry) four weeks ago. This is for her.”

Rosie Jones and Val Skinner finished tied for second at 2-under.

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It is the second LPGA Legends Tour win for Turner, who spent 25 years on the LPGA tour with three tournament victories, including the LPGA Championship in 1988. Her first Legends victory came in 2008. She won $30,000 Sunday.

“I played good yesterday, too, but I made some bogeys and I had a few holes where I struggled up and down,” she said. “Today, I only had one bogey (at the par-4 15th) and it was a three-putt, so I was right in there all day. I was hitting my irons real close and just had a lot more opportunities.”

Turner went to great lengths to avoid scoreboard watching on Sunday, even having her caddy cover her eyes as they drove their cart by one of the scoreboards between holes.

But Turner had a sense it was her day after she birdied the par-4 10th hole. On Saturday, she had a birdie chance there but missed a short downhill putt and ended up with a bogey.

On Sunday, Turner had another birdie opportunity with a five-foot putt downhill. She sank it to drop to 6-under.

“I was very happy, very happy to get that. That, to me, is one of the toughest holes on the course,” said Turner.

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Jones, who won the only other Legends tournament so far this year back in April, fared better than the other two women with whom she started the day sharing the lead, Cindy Figg-Currier (1-over) and Lori West (8-over). But bogeys at No. 3 and No. 7 allowed Turner to take the lead on the front nine.

“I thought I was going to really light it up today and I just didn’t have my putter going,” said Jones, who had 13 LPGA wins in a 24-year career. “Sherri was in front of me making a lot of putts, but I just couldn’t follow it up.”

Skinner, Turner’s playing partner, had a disastrous stretch early where she bogeyed 2 and 3, then double-bogeyed 4.

She recovered nicely with birdies at 6, 7 and 9 and added birdies on 14 and 17, both par-5’s, and ended up being one of only three golfers to finish under par for the day with a 71.

“We all want to get off to a quick start. It probably helped (Turner) seeing that I didn’t,” said the 51-year-old Skinner. “This golf course is hard. It really keeps coming at you, particularly with my length. I kept having to make decisions off the tee. I couldn’t hit a lot of drivers and I’d get in-between a lot trying to get shorter irons into the greens.”

Falmouth’s undulating greens made those short irons key, Skinner said. Turner was able to keep the long irons in her bag much of the day because she is one of the longest hitters on the Legends tour.

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“At the end of the day, she came prepared,” Skinner said. “She’s always been a good ball striker. She struggles with her putting here and there. But when she gets it going like she did today, she still has that kind of talent, and the course is set up for her game.”

Turner said this week’s rain set it up for her game even more.

“This course played really long because the last couple of days we had so much rain. The greens weren’t releasing at all,” Turner said. “You could pretty much carry it to the pins and know that it was going to sit right down.”

Other notable scores for the two-day tournament: Jan Stephenson (+4), Patty Sheehan (+6), Pat Bradley (+11), Donna Caponi (+17) and Nancy Lopez (+21).


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