Roberts Wins Boeing Championship

DESTIN, Fla. (AP) - Loren Roberts won The Boeing Championship for his first Champions Tour victory of the year, closing with a 6-under 65 on Sunday for a three-stroke victory over Argentina's Eduardo

Sunday, June 3rd 2007, 8:47 pm

By: News On 6

DESTIN, Fla. (AP) - Loren Roberts won The Boeing Championship for his first Champions Tour victory of the year, closing with a 6-under 65 on Sunday for a three-stroke victory over Argentina's Eduardo Romero.

Roberts finished with a 16-under 197 total on the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort's Raven Golf Club. He earned US$247,500 for his sixth victory in three seasons on the 50-and-over tour. Romero finished with a 69.

"I hit some quality shots when I needed to and combined that with some really good patience that I haven't had lately," Roberts said.

He also brought his wife and two daughters, ages 20 and 15, with him for the first time this year. They made a vacation out of their visit to the Florida Panhandle.

"We had great quality time together," Roberts said. "I probably was more relaxed."

Bob Gilder (65) and Tom Purtzer (71) tied for third at 12 under, and Jay Haas (73) and Dana Quigley (66) followed at 11 under.

Rod Spittle of Niagara Falls, Ont., (71) finished in a tie for 29th at 3 under, taking home $11,951.

Roberts entered the tournament without a victory this year despite his tour-leading 69.12 scoring average.

Roberts began the day tied for fourth, three stokes behind second-round leader Haas, two back of Purtzer and one behind Romero.

Each of those four players held or shared the lead at least twice through the 11th hole, including a four-way tie after nine. Roberts went ahead for good, though, with a birdie on the 12th while Purtzer and Romero each had a bogey and Haas shot par.

Roberts, though, didn't know that.

"I made a point not to look (at the leaderboard) until I walked off the 17th hole," Roberts said. "I really didn't want to know what was going on."

When he did look after the 17th he was up by four strokes. A model of consistency to that point with seven birdies, Roberts then carded his only bogey on the 18th, but by then he knew no one could catch him.

By contrast, the three players who started the day ahead of him were up and down throughout the final round trying to deal with 25 km/h winds.

Florida continued to frustrate Haas, the Champions Tour money leader and only two-time winner this year. He has played 102 PGA Tour events and six on the Champions Tour without a professional victory in the Sunshine State.

Romero also finished second last week in the Senior PGA Championship.

"My confidence is going up every week," Romero said. "I think my week is coming very soon. ... I can smell it."