Living Legends - Jim Thorpe

Featured Business

HoBo Massage Co.

Thorpe repeats as Long Island Classic Champion

Jim Thorpe has heard all the wisecracks about his golf swing over the years. He knows it's far from a classic with the big finishing loop.

''The one thing I know is that all the guys who make fun of my golf swing I can beat,'' he said Sunday after winning the Long Island Classic for the second straight year.

The 55-year-old Thorpe has won twice this year and nine times as a senior. Not bad for a guy with a swing that makes 18-handicappers shudder.

''I'll stick with this old loop I've got and keep collecting checks,'' he said.

His latest check was for $225,000 and put him over $750,000 for the year. He became the first player on the Champions Tour this year to defend a title and he did it in a wild finish that left him at 9-under 201, one shot in front of Andy Bean, Bobby Wadkins and Wayne Levi.

Thorpe capped a 3-under 67 with an incredible up-and-down that included an 18-foot par putt. He blocked his 5-iron second shot and was short and right of the green in the rough.

''That was a bad place to miss the green,'' he said. ''I told myself, 'Don't get stupid. Just put it on the green and make the putt.' When it was about 2 feet from the hole I knew I made it.''

Thorpe dropped into a four-way tie for the lead with a bogey on the par-3 16th, but pulled ahead with a birdie on the par-5 17th.

Wadkins, playing in the final group one behind Thorpe, birdied 17 to also reach 9 under. He knew what happened on the 18th green.

''I heard the roar when Jim made his putt and found out it was for par so I knew if I could make birdie I would win the tournament,'' said Wadkins, who won the event in 2001.

He hit his second shot on 18 in almost the same place as Thorpe and his chip also went well past the hole. However, he missed the par putt.

''You can't miss it where we did,'' Wadkins said. ''I hit a good chip but the odds of making a 15-foot putt on the last hole for par aren't very good.

''But it was all the second shot. I put it somewhere you shouldn't put it.''

Levi had a chance to tie Thorpe on the final hole, but his birdie putt from the fringe just slid past the cup. Levi fell to the ground in anguish as the ball just slid by.

''Levi hit a gorgeous putt,'' said Thorpe, who was playing in the same threesome.

Bean also birdied 17 to get to 8 under. He missed a chance to tie for the lead when he missed a birdie putt from about 9 feet on 18.

Jerry Pate, who entered the final round of a tournament with a lead for the first time since 1981, had a 3-over 73. He had one bogey over the first 36 holes and made four in a front-nine 39 on Sunday. He finished fifth at 7-under 203.

Thorpe won this event last year at the Red Course at Eisenhower Park, a public course, with a 15-under total that included a second-round 60 that matched the Champions Tour record.

''The difference between this year and last year was a different golf course,'' he said of the 6,904-yard layout that had much higher rough from last year and was lengthened by about 500 yards. ''You miss a fairway here now and you have trouble on your hands.''

Thorpe joined George Archer, Lee Trevino and Bruce Fleischer as two-time winners of the Long Island Classic, which is sponsored by Commerce Bank. All four won in consecutive years.

Thorpe will play next week in the Ford Senior Players Championship, the second of the tour's five majors. He has tied for second in it the last two years.

''I'm probably playing the best golf of my career,'' he said. ''I'm going to Ford and attack the golf course from the very first hole.''

Associated Press Sports

Updated: 1:37 a.m. ET July 05, 2004

Living Legends