Baiocchi Wins Kroger Classic

July 19, 1998 / 8:32 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Hugh Baiocchi made a 15-foot birdie putt on the second hole of a record-tying five-man playoff Sunday to win the rain-shortened Kroger Senior Classic.

The victory in the tournament, which had Sunday's final round rained out and was cut to 36 holes, was worth $165,000 to Baiocchi, who won the Comfort Classic last week at Indianapolis.

"To win two in a row is very satisfying. It's a great thrill for me," he said. "Last week, I was defending a lead all day. Today was virtually a lottery. I'm glad I had the winning ticket."

Sunday's round at The Golf Center at Kings Island, just north of Cincinnati, was initially suspended because of lightning. The last group of leaders had finished just two holes, so tournament officials wiped out the entire day's play when a heavy rain settled in an hour later.

That meant the five players tied for the second-round lead at 7-under-par 133 -- Baiocchi, Bob Charles, Larry Nelson, Bruce Summerhays and Frank Conner -- would meet in a playoff, tying the Senior PGA Tour record set at the 1996 Emerald Coast Classic.

Baiocchi had played three holes -- par, bogey, birdie - when play was stopped.

"I didn't start out playing terribly well, so maybe I was a little lucky the way things transpired," Baiocchi said.

After a 3½-hour delay, and with darkness closing in, the five players went to No. 16, a 191-yard par-3 over water.

All five missed the green, but all got up and down and trooped back to the 16th tee because the final two holes were unplayable.

This time all five hit the green, with Baiocchi closest to the pin.

One by one, the others missed their birdie putts. Baiocchi rolled in his putt and pumped his fist in the air.

"It was a pretty decent putt from 15 feet," he said. "It was always running at the hole."

Baiocchi, who has one other senior win, said the playoff might have had be postponed if he hadn't ended it when he did.

"It was getting dark. I don't know if we would have been able to go one more time if it had been necessary to do so," he said. "It was getting difficult to read the green."

It was the second Senior PGA Tour event that had to be shortened to 36 holes because of rain this year. The first round of the Coldwell Banker Burnet Classic, outside Minneapolis, was canceled last month.

It was the second Kroger Senior Classic to be abbreviated as Jim Dent won a 36-hole event in 1990.