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Nielsen makes huge rally to win Dick’s

By JOHN KEKIS
Associated Press

ENDICOTT, N.Y. — Lonnie Nielsen was as amazed as anybody.

Nielsen shot a 9-under 63 on Sunday, vaulting past second-round leader Fred Funk with an impressive five-hole flourish at the start, and won the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open by three shots over Funk and Ronnie Black.

Trailing Funk by three shots entering the day, Nielsen started with four birdies and an eagle and pulled away on the back side to win for just the second time on the Champions Tour.

“What a start! I never dreamed I would start like that,” Nielsen said. “I had a lot of breaks go my way.”

The victory came a day before his 56th birthday. The only other tournament he had won — the 2007 Commerce Bank Championship on Long Island — came two days after he celebrated his 54th.

“This is the time of year I start to play,” said Nielsen, whose best previous finish this year was a tie for third at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am in April.

Nielsen finished at 21-under 195, a record in the three-year history of the event and three shots better than Eduardo Romero’s winning total a year ago.

“I’ve never had a week like that,” Nielsen said.

It was the fourth straight finish of seventh or better for Funk (69), who was bidding to become the first player to win a PGA Tour event and a Champions Tour event on the En-Joie Golf Club course. He won the B.C. Open in 1996 at En-Joie.

“You wouldn’t dare dream that (Nielsen’s start),” Funk said. “I didn’t have the run of birdies I needed. It’s disappointing. I would have liked to have scared him.”

Black (66) had not won in 498 starts — 484 on the PGA Tour and 14 on the Champions Tour, a span of 24 years, 11 months and 13 days since capturing the 1984 Anheuser Busch Classic.

Playing in the group ahead of Funk, Nielsen began his round with birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie — and suddenly had a two-shot lead. His 60-foot putt at the par-5 third had to go over a ridge and he hit it too hard, but it bounced off the back of the cup and somehow dropped in for eagle.

“That might have saved me two shots. It was a huge confidence-builder,” said Nielsen, who had watched in amazement when his 25-foot putt on the first hole broke back right a foot from the hole and dropped into the cup. “That ball had no reason to do what it did. I was off and running.”

It was down to Nielsen and Funk after that.

Nielsen birdied No. 4 and went for the green with a hybrid on his second shot at the 565-yard, par-5 fifth, statistically the easiest of the day. The ball landed in a greenside bunker and Nielsen blasted to 5 feet and made birdie for a two-shot lead.

Nielsen parred the next six holes, while Funk made birdies at Nos. 5 and 6, curling in a perfectly paced 10-foot putt to tie for the lead. But the touch that produced 17 birdies in rounds of 64 and 65 the first two days wasn’t there again, and Funk failed to make another birdie.

“I watched Fred make my jaw drop yesterday,” Nielsen said. “You know it’s hard to maintain that over three days.”

If Nielsen hadn’t yet figured it was his day, he had to be reassured on the closing two holes. His tee shot at the par-3 17th hit in the rough and caromed back onto the green and he made par. Then his tee shot at 18 hit a tree along the right side and ricocheted back onto the fairway and he managed to score his final birdie of the tournament and finish a second straight round without a bogey.

Nielsen, who played the PGA Tour from 1978-83 without much success, is a contributor to Golf for Injured Veterans Everywhere, and he was convinced that was a big reason he finished with 24 birdies and one eagle. He donates $50 for each birdie and $500 for each eagle.

“It helps give them a place to play, makes them feel part of society again,” Nielsen said. “I felt I needed to do something. I think it’s a big reason I won. I could feel them pulling for me.”

Divots: Romero was the only player in the field with two eagles. Funk had 20 birdies and Black had just one bogey. ... Nielsen’s 63 is the lowest final round by a winner on the Champions Tour this year.

Final scores with relation to par and earnings from the Dick's Sporting Goods Open, played June 26-28 at the par-72, 6,974-yard En-Joie Golf Course in Endicott, N.Y.:

1. Lonnie Nielsen	$247,500	66-66-63--195		-21
2. Fred Funk	132,000	64-65-69--198		-18
2. Ronnie Black	132,000	69-63-66--198		-18
4. Brad Bryant	99,000	68-68-65--201		-15
5. Dan Forsman	68,200	70-68-65--203		-13
5. John Morse	68,200	69-67-67--203		-13
5. Jay Haas	68,200	66-68-69--203		-13
8. Mike Hulbert	49,500	67-68-69--204		-12
8. Gary Hallberg	49,500	67-66-71--204		-12
10. Larry Mize	36,630	68-69-68--205		-11
10. Tom Kite	36,630	67-70-68--205		-11
10. Joey Sindelar	36,630	68-69-68--205		-11
10. Nick Price	36,630	70-66-69--205		-11
10. Mike Goodes	36,630	70-65-70--205		-11
15. Jim Thorpe	24,915	70-71-65--206		-10
15. Mark McNulty	24,915	70-69-67--206		-10
15. Gary Trivisonno	24,915	71-67-68--206		-10
15. Tom Jenkins	24,915	68-69-69--206		-10
15. Scott Hoch	24,915	70-67-69--206		-10
15. D.A. Weibring	24,915	67-69-70--206		-10
15. Eduardo Romero	24,915	69-63-74--206		-10
22. Jeff Sluman	18,645	68-67-72--207		-9
22. Andy Bean	18,645	67-68-72--207		-9
24. Hal Sutton	15,086	68-72-68--208		-8
24. Don Pooley	15,086	69-71-68--208		-8
24. Bruce Vaughan	15,086	72-68-68--208		-8
24. Chip Beck	15,086	73-68-67--208		-8
24. Russ Cochran	15,086	71-71-66--208		-8
24. Scott Simpson	15,086	70-68-70--208		-8
24. David Ogrin	15,086	69-68-71--208		-8
31. Clarence Rose	12,128	72-71-66--209		-7
31. Jeff Roth	12,128	66-70-73--209		-7
33. Wayne Levi	10,890	72-69-69--210		-6
33. Dana Quigley	10,890	69-69-72--210		-6
33. R.W. Eaks	10,890	69-69-72--210		-6
36. Tom Wargo	8,601	71-70-70--211		-5
36. Fulton Allem	8,601	72-68-71--211		-5
36. Hale Irwin	8,601	71-69-71--211		-5
36. Vicente Fernandez	8,601	71-69-71--211		-5
36. Keith Fergus	8,601	72-70-69--211		-5
36. Jay Don Blake	8,601	70-73-68--211		-5
36. Tim Simpson	8,601	69-74-68--211		-5
36. Mark Wiebe	8,601	69-74-68--211		-5
44. David Edwards	6,600	69-70-73--212		-4
44. Bobby Wadkins	6,600	71-72-69--212		-4
44. Joe Ozaki	6,600	69-69-74--212		-4
44. Tom Purtzer	6,600	69-74-69--212		-4
48. Phil Blackmar	5,610	71-69-73--213		-3
48. Tom McKnight	5,610	70-73-70--213		-3
50. Gene Jones	4,373	71-71-72--214		-2
50. Lanny Wadkins	4,373	72-70-72--214		-2
50. Mike San Filippo	4,373	73-66-75--214		-2
50. David Eger	4,373	77-65-72--214		-2
50. Fuzzy Zoeller	4,373	73-71-70--214		-2
50. Robert L. Thompson	4,373	73-74-67--214		-2
56. Morris Hatalsky	3,383	73-68-74--215		-1
56. Peter Jacobsen	3,383	71-71-73--215		-1
56. Steve Thomas	3,383	70-74-71--215		-1
56. Allen Doyle	3,383	71-74-70--215		-1
60. John Harris	2,640	69-72-75--216		E
60. Isao Aoki	2,640	73-70-73--216		E
60. Mike Reid	2,640	73-70-73--216		E
60. Mike McCullough	2,640	74-71-71--216		E
60. Javier Sanchez	2,640	74-74-68--216		E
65. James Mason	1,898	72-74-72--218	+	2
65. Jay Sigel	1,898	72-74-72--218	+	2
65. Tim Conley	1,898	71-77-70--218	+	2
65. Dave Stockton	1,898	75-74-69--218	+	2
69. Bruce Fleisher	1,551	74-71-74--219	+	3
70. Bob Gilder	1,452	73-74-73--220	+	4
71. Blaine McCallister	1,353	73-72-76--221	+	5
72. Jim Albus	1,205	75-73-74--222	+	6
72. Wayne Grady	1,205	73-79-70--222	+	6
74. Jim Dent	1,089	72-78-79--229	+	13
75. Denis Watson	1,023	74-78-78--230	+	14
76. Rick Reynolds	957	77-80-77--234	+	18
WD. Craig Stadler		73-71-WD
DQ. Richie Karl		76-76-DQ

Posted: 6/28/2009

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