Mike Heinen concedes he's a nobody. He just hopes his victory Sunday in the Houston Open makes him a somebody.
"Who's this guy?" he said, anticipating the reaction to his first triumph on the PGA Tour in which he outdueled veteran Hal Sutton. "I don't know what I'm going to say when I pick up the paper in the morning. I hope they see my name more after this and I become a player to watch."Heinen withstood a late challenge from Sutton to shoot a 4-under-par 68 and win by three strokes.
"I don't know what to say I'm so excited," Heinen said. "It's just so neat to play with guys I watched on TV."
Heinen finished with a total of 16-under 272 at the Tournament Players Course at The Woodlands, marking the fifth straight year this tournament has produced a first-time winner on tour.
Heinen played steady golf Sunday, with four birdies and no bogeys. Tom Kite and Jeff Maggert, who began play tied for the lead with Heinen, and Sutton shared second at 275.
"He looked like he really had control," Sutton said. "He said I met him a long time ago. I didn't remember. I know him now."
Added Kite: "I don't think too many people have any clue who he is. The biggest surprise would be: Where the hell has he been? Hal was putting some heat on him. He handled himself very well."
Vijay Singh and Bob Gilder were six shots back at 278. At 279 were John Daly, Gil Morgan and Peter Jacobsen.
Daly, sporting his new bald look, made a late charge with a 32 on the back nine, including a hole-in-one on the 193-yard 16th hole and three birdies to get to 10-under. But a bogey on the 18th pushed him back to a 67.
Sutton closed within one shot with three holes remaining but Heinen refused to fold. Instead, it was Sutton who cracked, missing a short putt at No. 17 for a bogey. He also bogeyed the 18th hole for a 69. Heinen finished with four straight pars.
"It was a struggle out there," Heinen said. "Kite, Sutton, I see these guys. I just want to play as good as I could. I've worked hard all my life to get here. I'm just trying to keep my Tour card. It worked out."
Heinen had missed the cut six times in the 10 tournaments he entered in this, his first full year on the tour. The 27-year-old from Lake Charles, La., played on the Nike Tour last year, earning $71,706. His previous best finish in 1994 was a tie for 22nd at Tucson, Ariz., in January.
The $234,000 first-place money exceeded by far the $14,162 he had banked for all of this year before arriving in Houston.
Sutton was bidding for his eighth PGA victory but first since 1986. He started the day at 10-under, two shots behind co-leaders Heinen, Kite and Maggert. He caught Heinen quickly with birdies on four of the first five holes while Kite faded and Maggert never got going.
But at the par-3 No. 8, Sutton had a bogey while Heinen made par. Heinen picked up another stroke at No. 9 with a birdie, while Sutton, his playing partner, had a par.
Sutton drew to within one shot of the lead at No. 10 with a birdie, but his par putt at No. 11t slid past the hole while Heinen drained a birdie. The two-shot swing gave Heinen a three-shot lead with seven holes to go.
Sutton made up a shot with a birdie at No. 12 and both players made birdie at 15. But when Sutton birdied the par-3 16th hole and Heinen's birdie attempt missed by inches, Heinen's lead had dwindled to a single shot.
Then at the par-4 17th, Heinen's birdie attempt from the fringe of the green just lipped out of the cup, but Sutton failed to convert a 3-foot par for a bogey, giving Heinen a two-shot bulge going to the final hole.
Kite struggled from the start Sunday, shooting a 40 on the front nine and losing six shots to Heinen at the turn. He finally made his first birdie at the par-4 12th hole but by then was out of the running. He finished with four straight birdies.
The $1.3 million tournament was sponsored by Houston-based Shell Oil Co.
At Daytona Beach, Fla., uncomfortable with her putting, Sherri Steinhauer stayed out late Saturday night.
The 10-year LPGA veteran from Madison, Wis., finally left the practice green at darkness after 90 minutes of work and it helped her win the richest event in women's golf Sunday.
"It's a new putting drill and it paid off," said Steinhauer, who sank a 25-foot birdie putt at No. 15 Sunday to hold the lead enroute to a 1-shot win over long-hitting Kelly Robbins at the $1.2 million Sprint Championship.
"That was the key putt," said Steinhauer. "I was a long way away when that dropped and it definitely gave me a big, big boost and a lot of confidence going into the last three holes."
Steinhauer birdied again on No. 16 and finished with a 2-under 70 to capture the $180,000 winner's purse. The 70 was her highest round of the week after a 67 and a pair of 68s.
Her four-round 273 was the lowest score in a 72-hole tournament this year and just good enough to hold off Robbins, who finished with a 4-under 68 and one shot back with a 14-under 274.
"Anytime you can shoot a 68 on Sunday, you have to be doing something right," said Robbins, who said Steinhauer "did everything right when she needed to."
Steinhauer, who began the day with a three-shot lead over Robbins, led all the way. The $180,000 payoff sent her from 23rd to first on the official LPGA money list with $229,294.
After pars Sunday on her first 10 holes, Steinhauer got her first birdie at the 155-yard 11th hole to regain the three-shot advantage she had when play began Sunday at the Indigo Lakes Golf Resort.
"I thought, I can't just be happy with pars," said Steinhauer. "If you try to make pars, you're going to end up making bogeys. I kept saying to myself, `birdies, birdies.' "
But the 24-year-old Robbins was thinking the same way and pulled to within one shot of Steinhauer with her fourth birdie of the day coming on No. 14.
Both players birdied 15 and Steinhauer again opened a two-stroke lead with another birdie at No. 16, before Robbins' got back to within one shot with the final birdie of the day at No. 17.
"Kelly was pressing me the whole day," said Steinhauer, who said she benefited from playing the final round against Robbins.
"It probably made it a little easier," added Steinhauer. "I didn't have to watch the leader board. It was just Kelly and I."
It was a record payday for the three top finishers.
Robbins was paid $111,711 for finishing second and veteran Barb Bunkowsky, who had earned only $964 on the tour this year, finished third at 10-under 278 and pocketed $81,519.
Beth Daniel, the 1991 winner of this tournament, turned in Sunday's best round with a 67 and finished fourth with a 7-under 281.
First-round leader Alicia Dibos of Peru was 2-under Sunday and finished fifth with a 6-under 282 to win $51,326 - almost twice as much as her previous earnings in two years on the tour.
Second-round leader Trish Johnson of England was hit with illness Saturday and finished 12 back at 285.
Defending champion Kristi Albers shot a 3-under 69 Sunday and finished at 2-under 286.