At Potomac, Md., Tom Byrum needed something to soothe his nerves as he entered the final round of the Kemper Open. What his memory didn't provide, his caddy did.
Drawing from the experience gained from two earlier crushing defeats and chuckling at his joke-telling caddy, a relaxed Byrum shot a 3-under-par 68 Sunday to win by five strokes with a tournament-record 268.Byrum, who entered the tournament winless in four years on the PGA Tour, began the final round with a two-shot lead. He had been close to that elusive first victory before. But in 1986 he blew a two-shot advantage in the Western Open, and last year he lost a four-stroke lead on the final day of the Pensacola Open.
Both losses were crushing, but helpful.
"It's amazing what you can do with a little experience. It really pays off to get beat a few times," he said. "Luckily, I remembered every lick that I took and it kept me going until the end."
If the experience he gained from those two losses didn't fully calm him, his caddy - known as "Irish Dave" - did.
"He's a joker, and maybe that's what I needed," Byrum said. "I get a little too uptight sometimes and I need to relax and take things a little lighter. He's the kind of guy you can't be around and be serious at the same time."
Byrum pulled away Sunday with three straight birdies on Nos. 4-6. That gave him a five-shot lead, and the margin never got lower than three the rest of the way.
Tommy Armour III, Jim Thorpe and Billy Ray Brown finished in a tie for second.
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At Houston, Homero Blancas won his first tournament since 1973, making five birdies Sunday to beat Bob Charles and Walter Zembriskie by two strokes at the PGA Seniors $300,000 Doug Sanders Classic.
Blancas, in his second year on the Seniors Tour, made three birdies on the back nine to offset three bogeys on the front nine and finish at 2-under-par 70. He received $45,000, raising his 1989 earnings to $56,855, and won the first time since the Monsanto Open in 1973.
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And at Pittsford, N.Y., Patty Sheehan sank a short par-putt on the first playoff hole Sunday to defeat Ayako Okamoto, who bogeyed, and win the Ladies Professional Golf Association's Rochester International.
It was the first victory of the year for Sheehan, who shot a 1-under par 71 and finished with a four-day total of 10-under 278.
Okamoto could have won the $300,000 tournament on the final hole of regulation, she missed a six-foot birdie putt. In the playoff, she missed a 12-foot putt for par after her second shot ended up in front of the green on the right side.
Sheehan, who jumped into the lead Saturday with a double-eagle on her next-to-the last hole, got into the playoff with an eagle on the same hole Sunday.
Sheehan won $45,000.