NANCY SCRANTON WINS ON LEGENDS TOUR TO COLLECT $30,000

NEWS RELEASE FROM LISA MICKEY

THE VILLAGES, Florida – Nancy Scranton earned her fifth career win on Sunday at The Legends Tour’s inaugural $225,000 Walgreens Charity Championship. 

The first-round leader fell behind over the final round, but scrambled on the back nine to win by one shot.

The Illinois native carded rounds of 67-69 to finish at 8-under 136 to earn the winner’s check for $30,000. She edged out runner-up Jane Crafter of Australia, who posted rounds of 68-69 to finish one shot back at 7-under 137.

“I was just really patient today,” said Scranton, who now lives in St Augustine, Florida. 

 “You never know which holes you’re going to birdie. I was fortunate to birdie holes 16 and 17 to get back in there.”

Scranton rolled in birdie putts on hole Nos. 8 and 9, but stumbled with her only bogey on No. 13. That gave Crafter a chance to make a run at the leaderboard. 

The Australian toured the Nancy Lopez Legacy Course at The Villages bogey-free today, while recording birdies on holes 6, 9, 12 and 14.

But Scranton, who celebrated a birthday earlier in the week, joined Crafter in a tie for the lead when she birdied the par-4 16^th hole. At No. 17, she laced a 5-iron to within a foot on the par-3 hole to set up her tap-in birdie. That putt gave her a one-stroke advantage heading into the final hole.

Knowing she had to birdie the 18^th hole for a chance to tie the lead, Crafter made a run with her 12-foot birdie attempt, but the ball didn’t drop. The Aussie tapped in for par to finish solo second.

“I saw that I had a chance, but I didn’t put the best stroke on it,” said Crafter, who won the Legends Tour’s Fry’s Desert Classic team event in March with Hall of Famer Betsy King. “I was a little nervous over the birdie putt on 18, and I think I just misread it.”

While Crafter’s birdie chance failed to drop on No. 18, Scranton layed up on the par-5 finishing hole and two-putted for the win.

“I didn’t know I was in the lead until I got up to the 18^th green and saw that Jane was at seven under,” admitted Scranton. “Sometimes that’s the hardest thing to do – to two-putt instead of just trying to make it for birdie.”

Tied for third at 6-under 138 were Cindy Figg-Currier (70) of Texas, a three-time Legends Tour winner, and Sweden’s Liselotte Neumann, who fired the day’s low round of 6-under 66. Neumann is the 2013 European Solheim Cup Team Captain.

Ohio’s Barb Mucha (69) and Wisconsin native Sherri Steinhauer (69) tied for fifth at 5-under 139.

Weekend crowds of 22,000 in The Villages retirement golf community set a fan attendance record that hasn’t been matched since the Legends Tour’s inaugural event in 2000, in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

For complete tournament results and more information, log on to www.thelegendstour.com

Contact: Lisa Mickey at lisamickey@me.com, and Sue Fracker at sfracker@jbcgolf.com and 617-513-4716.