A change in perspective and a shift in values paid off with a victory for Dan Forsman in the Shearson Lehman Hutton Open.
"I need to get away from quantity and go for quality," the 6-foot-4 Forsman said last year after an overly busy PGA Tour schedule played him into a slump."I had chronic fatigue syndrome," Forsman said.
It was, he said, the result of an attempt to lead the tour in birdies for a third time. He didn't get it. But he played 35 tournaments in search of it.
"I was just burned out." said Forsman, who ended 1989 with his poorest season in five years.
So he made a conscious effort to concentrate on quality, rather than quantity, this year.
And in the difficult conditions of the final round Sunday, it was pars - not birdies - that proved to be quality.
For the third week in a row, the winner of a Tour title needed only a closing round of par 72 to win.
Mark O'Meara did it two weeks ago at Pebble Beach. David Ishii did it last week in Hawaii. And Forsman did it on the South course at Torrey Pines.
"I learned a lot about myself," he said. "I learned I was able to continue on and get the job done."
His task was eased by the lack of pressure applied by his pursuers. No one who was within six shots of Forsman going into the final round broke par in the gusty wind and occasional shower.
The result was a two-stroke victory, the third of his eight-season career and first in four years. He won it with a 275 total, 13 under par.
But he needed only par, 72-72-144, over the last 36 holes to come from one shot off the pace.
Tommy Armour III finished second at 277, and Tom Byrum was third at 278. Tied for fourth at 279 were O'Meara, Craig Stadler, Fred Couples, Australian Steve Elkington, rookie Kirk Triplett and Tom Sieckmann.
The only pressure Forsman felt over the last five holes was self-applied from tee shots that drifted to the right and a succession of testy par putts.
He made all but one of them, collected $162,000 from the total purse of $900,000 and boosted his early-season earnings to $200,992.