The former US Open champion Scott Simpson won the Buick Invitational in San Diego at the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with Skip Kendall after both had finished 54 holes of the rainshortened tournament on 204. Tiger Woods, Davis love III and Kevin Sutherland finished joint third on 205.
Simpson had shared the overnight lead at 11-under after 15 holes of the third round with Kevin Sutherland (after eight holes), two-time winner Steve Pate (eight) and 1986 champion Bob Tway (nine). Both Richard Coughlan and Keith Nolan failed to qualify for the final two rounds.
It transpired that Coughlan would have had to make three birdies in his last four holes to make it, as with the improved conditions after the rain of the previous day, the scores went lower, the cut moving from one to two under par. Coughlan could only manage a second-round 72 and a one-over-par 145.
It had become an uphill task after Coughlan's double bogey at the seventh on Friday, the bogeys at 13 and 14 made it virtually impossible, and with Nolan slumping to a 77 in the second round to miss the cut by nine shots, it wasn't the outcome that the two rookies had hoped for at the beginning of the week, especially after their creditable showing in the rain at Pebble Beach.
In spite of failing to make the cut, Coughlan was surprisingly upbeat: "I'd just got it to three under for the tournament and then came the trouble on seven. I don't think it's an excuse to say that it started raining badly. I rushed the tee shot a little bit you know, I pushed it right and made double there, but even that didn't bother me too much because I made a good putt and I was still a couple under on the day. I still fancied myself for a few more birdies.
"I made a lot of good pars and bogeying 13 and 14 was a bummer because I was still well in range if I could have made a couple coming in. I missed a six-footer on 13 and I rushed the one on 14 a bit just to try and get in out of the rain because the horn had gone. But I said I would go ahead and finish anyway. It did a 360 and it came back to me.
"I'm hitting the ball well but what definitely hurt me was not being able to practise on the course before we played. There's no question, Red (his caddie), and I talked about that yesterday. It's difficult because if you do miss the fairway, there's no chance of hitting the green because the rough is so wet and the club will always turn over."
"I'm there. I mean I've been there the last two weeks. I'm stroking the putts well so it's just a matter of a break here and there.
"I was trying to be a bit too greedy on the seventh and then I had that root under my ball. There's nothing you can do about that but I didn't lose my concentration and I made bunch of really good pars where I didn't hit the fairway on the back nine.
