Mark Calcavecchia

Steve Jones birdied two of the final three holes yesterday to post a final- round 70 and win the $900,000 Canadian Open by 2 shots. Jones' four-round total of 17-under-par 271 set a tournament record. Mike Hulbert, Mark Calcavecchia and Clark Burroughs tied for second at 15-under 273. Hulbert had the best final round, 64, while Calcavecchia and third-round leader Burroughs finished with 69 and 74 in humid conditions. Jones began the 17th hole tied at 16-under with Burroughs, but caught a break when his approach shot bounced off thick rough to within seven feet from the hole.

The standoff between the PGA Tour and the new World Golf Tour is turning into something of a "he said, she said" story. The World Golf Tour issued a statement yesterday, saying it was "continuing to move ahead as planned" with its venture to stage six to eight tournaments in 1995, some of which would conflict with PGA Tour events. The statement also said that Greg Norman's commitment to the World Golf Tour "is as firm as ever. " This all came one day after PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem released a statement in which he said Norman told him he had had a "re-evaluation of this situation" and had told Finchem "he would not support any venture that would damage the PGA Tour.

Scott Verplank took advantage of near-ideal playing conditions with a 7- under-par 65 yesterday to take a 2-shot lead after three rounds of the $1 million Bob Hope Classic in Palm Desert, Calif. Verplank, who won the Western Open as an amateur in 1985 and scored his first professional triumph last year, did not make a bogey in his round at Eldorado. He completed three rounds in 203, 13 under par, with two days to go in the 90-hole tournament, which is played on four courses.

Mark Calcavecchia well remembers the last time he opened a weekend contending for a major championship. This time, he's hoping for a better ending. Calcavecchia opened a three-stroke lead yesterday in the Regions Tradition at Shoal Creek, Ala., shooting a 7-under-par 65. The event is the Champions Tour's first major of the season. Calcavecchia, with wife Brenda working as his caddie, was second in the British Open last year after 36 holes, but dropped to 73rd with closing rounds of 77 and 80. "I didn't handle that too good," said Calcavecchia, the 1989 British Open winner.

HOUSTON - Scott Hoch, who would go over $2 million in winnings for the year if he won here this weekend and still not catch Tiger Woods on the money list, shot a 65 yesterday to take the midway lead in the Tour Championship. Hoch's 36-hole total of 9-under-par 133 was 1 stroke ahead of Jim Furyk and 2 better than Mark Calcavecchia and David Duval, who was trying to become the first player to win three consecutive starts on tour since 1993. Hoch, a rock-solid player with a great short game who made the cut in all 21 tournaments he played on the PGA tour this year, made four consecutive birdies and five in six holes beginning on No. 8. "I left it in some good spots where I was going uphill," he said about his approach shots to those greens.

Mark Calcavecchia, who had played only one round in the previous three weeks, fired a 6-under-par 64 yesterday to open a 3-shot lead over Notah Begay 3d after the third round of the Greater Hartford Open. Calcavecchia, winless on the PGA Tour since 1998, completed 54 holes at 17-under 193 and is threatening the 72-hole record on the books since the tournament moved to the TPC at River Highlands in 1991. Defending champion Brent Geiberger holds the mark of 18 under. Kirk Triplett set a course record with a 9-under 61 to surge into a tie for third with Edward Fryatt at 13 under.

Defending champion Mark O'Meara, whose father played in the same foursome, fired a par 72 and cruised to a 2-shot victory yesterday in the $1 million Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. O'Meara, who finished with a 72-hole score of 7-under 281, became the fourth player - and the first since Tom Watson in 1978 - to win this tournament in back-to-back years. Of O'Meara's five career PGA tour victories, three have come in this event. Kenny Perry, a fourth-year tour player, rallied with a 70 to take second at 283. Payne Stewart, who tied O'Meara for the lead on the ninth hole, faded with a 40 on the back nine and shot a 73 to join Tom Kite (71)

Mark Calcavecchia began his final round of the Masters trying to avoid a last-place finish. Not only did he stay out of the basement, he found the penthouse, breaking one of the most storied records in Masters annals with a 7-under-par 29 on the hallowed back nine of the Augusta National Golf Club. Calcavecchia, who finished with a 7-under 65 yesterday and a 72-hole score of 285, birdied the last six holes, along with No. 10. He was particularly deadly with his irons. On Augusta's last three par-4 holes - the 14th, 17th and 18th - his birdie putts, strung end-to-end, totaled less than three feet.

Billy Glasson sank a 50-foot sand shot for a birdie on the 18th hole yesterday to preserve a 1-shot lead after three rounds of the $1.3 million Doral Open at Miami. Glasson was tied with Mark Calcavecchia and appeared to be in danger of losing his share of the top spot when he plunked his second shot into the sand on the final hole of the Blue Monster course at the Doral Country Club. But Glasson, who twice holed out from off the green on Friday, knocked the 50-foot shot into the cup to finish a round of 5-under-par 67 that left him at 13-under 203 after 54 holes.

Fred Couples, who scrambled to stay alive on the first two holes of a sudden-death playoff, parred the third extra hole yesterday to defeat Mark Calcavecchia and win the $600,000 Byron Nelson Golf Classic in Irving, Texas. Couples had a final-round 70 at the Las Colinas Sports Club to finish at 14-under 266. Calcavecchia, who had a 63 in Saturday's third round, came from 6 shots off the pace with a 64 to make the playoff. Couples almost drove out of bounds on the first playoff hole but recovered for a birdie to match Calcavecchia.