Golf: Davies captures her second major title

LAURA DAVIES, of Great Britain, won her second straight tournament and the second major of her career yesterday, pulling away on the back nine to a three-under-par 68 that gave her the US LPGA Championship at Wilmington, Delaware, by three strokes.

Davies, the 1987 US Open champion, distanced herself from the field with birdies at the 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th. She then had three straight pars before finishing with a one-foot putt at the 18th to finish on 279, five under par for the championship.

While Davies flourished over the closing holes, down the stretch, Patty Sheehan, the defending champion, collapsed under the weight of two straight bogeys and a double-bogey and finished with a 73 for a 285.

Davies, who won the Sara Lee Classic last week, took home dollars 165,000 ( pounds 113,000) to increase her tour earnings this year to dollars 467,628. She has three wins, a second, a third and a 10th-place finish in nine events.

Davies made successive four-foot birdie-putts on 11 and 12, parred 13, then overcame an errant tee shot on 14 with a 20-foot birdie putt. She was also wild off the tee on the par- four 15th hole, but hit her approach within 18 feet of the hole and sank the putt to go five under.

Alice Ritzman, bidding for her first win in 402 events, bogeyed two of the first three holes but recovered to shoot a 70 for a 282 to finish second. Pat Bradley, Liselotte Neumann, Pat Bradley and Hiromi Kobayashi shared third place.

LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP (Wilmington, Del) Leading final scores (US unless stated): 279 L Davies (GB) 70 72 69 68. 282 A Ritzman 68 73 71 70. 283 E Crosby 76 71 69 67; P Bradley 73 73 70 67; H Kobayashi (Japan) 72 73 71 67; L Neumann (Swe) 74 73 67 69. 285 S Steinhauer 75 70 72 68; A Alcott 71 75 70 69; B Daniel 72 74 68 71; P Sheehan 72 68 72 73. 289 M Lunn (Aus) 70 75 70 74. 291 G Graham (Can) 73 71 76 71; A Okamoto (Japan) 74 72 73 72; J Wyatt (Can) 72 74 73 72. 292 A Arruti (Sp) 75 73 71 73; H Alfredsson (Swe) 73 74 71 74. 295 B Bunkowsky (Can) 72 76 75 72. 297 L Walters (Can) 74 77 74 72. 298 M Figueras Dotti (Sp) 76 75 70 77. 299 J Stephenson (Aus) 75 76 74 74. 301 N Harvey (Can) 77 72 79 73. 303 D Coe Jones (Can) 76 75 76 76.