Tommy Armour III set the PGA Tour 72-hole scoring record as he coasted to victory in the $3.5 million Texas Open by a seven-shot margin on Sunday. Armour fired a five-under-par 65 to finish 26 under on 254, two shots better than Mark Calcavecchia’s 256 aggregate at the 2001 Phoenix Open.Defending champion Loren Roberts carded an eight-under 62 for a total of 261, his winning score in 2002. But this year that was only good enough for a second-place tie with Bob Tway (64). Duffy Waldorf, who early in the round had cut Armour’s six-stroke overnight lead to three, came fourth on 262. Australia’s Aaron Baddeley jumped 18 places up the leaderboard with a 62 to take fifth position on 263.Armour, the grandson of three-times major champion Tommy Armour of Scotland, had won only once before on tour, at the 1990 Phoenix Open. Sunday’s victory was worth $630,000 to the 43-year-old and gives him a playing exemption through the 2005 season. Armour also became the fourth successive over-40 to win on the circuit, following Tway, Fiji’s Vijay Singh and JL Lewis.‘‘At the turn, I pretty much felt I was in charge of the tournament,’’ Armour told reporters. ‘‘I didn’t think anybody else could win.’’At the 10th, he made his first bogey of the week. But he hit back with three more birdies before dropping another shot at the 18th. ‘‘I just played really solid golf, hitting a lot of good solid shots,’’ Armour said. ‘‘I mean, the ball was going where I was aiming all week. I was picking out targets, I didn’t shoot at a lot of pins unless I had an eight-iron or less. I hit at my targets all week and I made putts.’’ Despite working on his swing for the last four months, Armour’s best finish of the year was a tie for 11th at the Canadian Open. He said he was still not sure why he suddenly began playing so well. ‘‘I was thinking about that last night lying in bed before I went to sleep,’’ Armour said. (Reuters)
