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By BRANT JAMES
© St. Petersburg Times, published June 25, 2001
BROOKSVILLE -- It would have been a great way to gather confidence for his junior year at Wallace (Ala.) College if the school hadn't recently dissolved its golf program.
Robbie Schulz won the 84th Florida State Amateur Golf Championship on Sunday at World Woods with a final-round 5-under-par 67. He overtook four players who began the day in front of him.
Schulz, 20, finished at 5-under 282, overcoming a four-stroke deficit and beating Lutz's Joe Alfieri and Clearwater's Brendan Takacs by four strokes. Three rounds were played on the par-72 Rolling Oaks course and one on the par-71 Pine Barrens course. "I was just trying to make pars, and everything got working," Schulz said.
Alfieri, 31, began the day second, three strokes behind Steve Albright, and shot 72 to finish as runner-up for the third consecutive year.
Takacs, 19, atoned for 75 on Saturday with 70 but double bogeyed No. 14 and bogeyed No. 15. Last year the Central Florida player led entering the final day but finished fourth.
"Last year I learned you're never out of it," he said. "So I took that into the final round. I played good, but I can't seal it."
Crystal River's Kelly Gosse shot even-par 287 to finish fourth.
Albright, who led after each of the first three rounds, played in the group behind Schulz and knew from marshals that his bid was over by the 14th hole, when Schulz birdied to go 6 under. Albright's 79 left him tied for eighth at 290.
"I had a bad day from the very beginning, and I knew standing on the 16th tee I had no chance," Albright said. "It was a lot of pressure for me having part of the lead every day, and it can can wear on you. I gave out."
Schulz, from Naples, didn't want updates as he orchestrated a 12-stroke turnaround on Albright.
"(The marshal) asked, and I said 'No,' " Schulz said. "If I know, that's when I start pushing harder, and there was no reason to. I was playing good. I might as well keep it as it was."
Schulz birdied six holes, but he said a tap-in par putt after an hour rain delay jump-started his game.
"When they called it, I had missed the green," he said. "As soon as we came out, I lipped the chip and had a tap-in. That fired me up real quick."
The top 10 finishers earned exemptions into the 2002 Amateur.
HARRISON, N.Y. -- Sergio Garcia had a big smile and an air of confidence after the third round of the PGA Tour event. With a two-stroke lead over his closest pursuer and an eight-stroke cushion over Tiger Woods, why not?
"He can still shoot a good round and finish well," Garcia said of Woods. But he left little doubt that anyone eight strokes behind with 18 holes to play, be he Woods or any other golfer, was not of primary concern.
"It's not on my mind right now. I'm more focused on Scott Hoch and J.P. Hayes," Garcia said.
Woods shot 3-under 68 and lost ground to Garcia's 66.
Hoch, who also had 68, was alone in second at 10-under 203, two strokes behind Garcia heading into today's final round. Hayes was a shot behind Hoch after 67, and Russ Cochran, Stewart Cink and Gabriel Hjertsted were at 206.
"I'm going to have to play a great round," Woods said. "When you're this far behind, you're going to need a little help."
This is the first time Garcia has had the lead heading into the final round in a PGA Tour event.
His best stretch came on the front nine, when he birdied Nos. 5 and 6 and nearly drove the green on the short par-4 7th. He flopped a wedge shot from about 20 yards on to the green, and it trickled into the cup for an eagle 2.
The final round will be today because of long rain delays at the Westchester Country Club on Thursday and Saturday.
FLEETBOSTON CLASSIC: Larry Nelson won the Senior PGA Tour event at Concord, Mass., after Tom Kite's tee shot on the 17th hole hit an airborne bird and fell into a pond, leaving him with a double bogey and dropping him out of contention.
Nelson, the defending champion, shot 5-under 67 on the Nashawtuc Country Club course to finish three strokes ahead of Bruce Fleisher and four ahead of Kite and Mike Hill. Nelson, who withdrew from the NFL Classic two weeks ago because of a pinched nerve, had a 15-under 201 total.
Kite was the only other player to reach 13 under in the round. He was alone in second and one stroke behind Nelson when he hit what appeared to be a perfect tee shot on the 167-yard, par-3 17th.
But the ball struck a purple martin, killing it and knocking the ball into the water. Kite took a drop on the bank of the pond, chipped the ball onto the green and two-putted for 5; he parred No. 18 to finish 11 under.
"You talk about the all-time bad breaks," Nelson said. "You have a lot of bad breaks during the week, but this happened at the wrong time. You feel bad for Tom. He was playing really well."
INNERFORM CHALLENGE: Futures Tour rookie Jung Yeon Lee beat Nicole Jeray on the fourth sudden-death hole in Grand Rapids, Mich. Lee shot 4-under 68, and Jeray shot 67. Beth Bauer of Valrico finished in a four-way tie for third at 206, one stroke out of the playoff.
U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR PUBLIC LINKS: Candie Kung, 19, won the event at Long Grove, Ill., beating Missy Farr-Kaye 2-up in the final of the match play event. At 33 years old, Farr-Kaye was attempting to become the first player older than 22 to win the tournament.
GREAT NORTH OPEN: Andrew Coltart won his first PGA European Tour title since 1998 at Hexham, England. He shot par 72 for a 277 total, a shot better than Stephen Gallacher and Paul Casey.
MIZUNO OPEN: Hidemichi Tanaka shot 3-under 69 to win with a 272 total at Kasaoka, Japan. He qualified for next month's British Open.