Monday, March 17, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
SUN WIRE REPORTS
As an amateur in Australia, Stuart Appleby used to drive 200 miles to Melbourne to play 36-hole rounds on the weekend.
That came in handy for the marathon finish to the Honda Classic at Coral Springs, Fla.
He couldn't always see a scoreboard, but he knew the tight pin placements and wind that rattled the flagsticks would prevent anyone from running away with the tournament.
And when he did have an idea what it would take to win, Appleby managed to reach down and find it.
The 25-year-old Australian earned his first PGA Tour victory Sunday with the kind of kick that usually wins long distance races.
He holed a 65-yard wedge from a thick patch of rough for eagle to catch up with Payne Stewart, made a 6-foot birdie putt two holes later for the lead and then played well enough to win the Honda Classic by one stroke over Stewart and Michael Bradley.
Colin Montgomerie was alone in fourth at 277. Robert Gamez of Las Vegas shot a final-round 72 and finished tied for fifth with eight others at 278. At one point, eight players shared the lead during the 36 holes.
"Nobody was going to run away with it," Appleby said. "With the pins and with the wind, that wasn't going to happen. You had to be hanging in there. I was really digging into my resources, milking it dry coming home."
Rain that washed out the second round Friday led to the first 36-hole final on the PGA Tour since Fred Couples won the 1994 Buick Open.
"It was one day to go but a long way to go," said Appleby, who shot rounds of 67 and 71 to finish at 14-under 274 and earn $270,000. "I knew it was Sunday, but I knew it was really Saturday."
* LPGA: At Tucson, Ariz., despite battling a week-long cold, Donna Andrews showed she's healthy by shooting a 4-under-par 68 to win the Welch's-Circle K Championship by one stroke over Tina Barrett. "It's taken a year to get my putting and short game back," said Andrews. "I spent all winter working real hard on my game and it's paying off. I think I'm hitting the ball more solid now than in '94" when she was the tour's fifth-leading money winner at $429,015. Andrews, also the 1994 winner, finished with a 15-under 273 total -- one shot shy of tying Chris Johnson's 1984 tournament record. It was the fifth career title for Andrews and the winner's purse of $75,000 represented more money than she made in three of her previous seven years on the tour.
* SENIORS: At Newport Beach, Calif., Bob Murphy never lost his patience, and he needed every ounce of it to win a record nine-hole playoff at the Toshiba Senior Classic. With darkness closing in, Murphy rolled in an 80-foot birdie putt to beat Jay Sigel on Sunday in the longest day ever on the Senior PGA Tour. "I felt if I was going to miss it I wanted to miss it below the hole, but when it kept tracking towards the hole I said, 'Son of a gun, this might go in,"' Murphy said. Sigel, who trailed Murphy by six shots early in regulation, birdied four of the final six holes to catch Murphy and force extra play. Sigel had a chance to tie Murphy on the ninth playoff hole, but his 25-foot birdie putt fell off to the right.
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