MILTON, Fla. (AP) - Maybe it was the putting tip from Lee Trevino that got Jim Thorpe on a roll.

BILL KACZOR
Thorpe took his second straight Champions Tour victory Monday, hitting a 4 1/2-foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to beat Morris Hatalsky in the Blue Angels Classic at the Moors Golf Club. Thorpe, coming off a victory two weeks ago in the FedEx Kinko's Classic in Lakeway, Texas, said his improved play followed a phone call from Trevino at that event.

"I give Lee credit for it because he didn't have to call me," Thorpe said. "My left shoulder was just too low. Basically, I couldn't rotate the shoulders. I was slapping one right and one left."

Hatalsky and Thorpe each parred the first hole of the playoff Sunday night before play was suspended because of darkness following a pair of rain delays that totalled four hours, 18 minutes.

They parred the second playoff hole Monday, but Hatalsky opened the door for Thorpe's winning birdie when he hit his second shot into a bunker on the approach to the par-4 No. 18.

"When there's two warriors out there, one of us got to go down, and it was his turn to go this time," Thorpe said.

Thorpe forced the playoff with a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation. He closed Sunday with a 3-under 67 and Hatalsky had a 66 to complete 54 holes at 16-under 194.

"I had ample opportunities out there, and I just wasn't making putts when I needed to," Hatalsky said. "I was playing really good, but I just didn't close the deal. I'm disappointed because I should have finished first."

He had a chance to win on the second playoff hole, No. 10, but his 12-foot birdie putt was just short.

"I thought I had a line on it," Hatalsky said. "I just hit it too easy."

But he also credited Thorpe.

"He's got all the shots," Hatalsky said. "He can drive the ball well. He's got great iron play. His short game is excellent. He's the whole package."

Don Pooley (63), Fuzzy Zoeller (64), Peter Jacobsen (65) and Tom Jenkins (66) tied for third at 13 under. Dave Barr of Kelowna, B.C., carded a 63 to finish tied for seventh.

Craig Stadler, tied for ninth after matching the tour record with a second-round 60, shot a 70 to tie for ninth at 11 under.

When tournament officials handed Thorpe his $225,000 US cheque for winning, he noted that he donated the $247,500 he earned from his victory in Texas to the Community Crossing Church in Heathrow, Fla., his hometown.

"It seems like since then I sleep better at night, I wake up early in the morning, my food taste better," Thorpe said.

But then he added, "I think the wife might hold on to this one a little bit."