Winning $216,000 is a big thrill and the biggest paycheck John Morse has ever collected. What he's looking forward to, though, is what's down the road.
Morse, who barely qualified for the PGA Tour this year, won the Hawaiian Open by three strokes Sunday."This was a big win, a big win," said Morse, who had to play in Australia and Canada to hone his skills. "This puts me in the Masters and the Mercedes Championships and it's also a big step towards the PGA."
It also means no more qualifying school, which he failed six times, or playing on the Nike Tour.
On Sunday, Morse started with a two-stroke lead over the field and then held off several challenges to post the win.
First, it was Chip Beck, who inched within a shot. Then, in succession, came Dan Pohl, Paul Azinger, Bill Glasson and finally, Duffy Waldorf and Tom Lehman.
At the end of the 72nd hole, Morse, who shot a closing 68, was three stokes ahead of Waldorf and Lehman at 19-under 269.
Azinger, making a comeback after battling cancer, Glasson and Pohl finished at 14-under 274, with John Huston and Mark Brooks another shot back. Beck was alone at 12-under and 1990 Hawaiian Open winner David Ishii and Grant Waite were at 277.
The only blemish during the 30-year-old tournament, which is sponsored by United Airlines, came in the second round when defending champion Brett Ogle was struck under his left eye and on the arm by a splintered club.
At Lake Buena Vista, Fla., while most of the field in the LPGA Tournament of Champions drifted backward in the rain, Dawn Coe-Jones kept moving ahead.
By the end of the $700,000 event Sunday, she was alone atop the leaderboard with a 7-under-par total of 281 on the tough North-South course at Grand Cypress.
Beth Daniel was a distant runner-up, six shots behind Coe-Jones and the only other player in the field of 39 champions from the past two seasons to break par in unfavorable weekend weather conditions.
Coe-Jones shot a 68 in a steady rain Saturday and was almost as good Sunday when a 48-minute rain delay could have affected her concentration, but didn't.
She closed with a 3-under 69, shooting par the last seven holes after making four birdies on the front nine and another at No. 11 to maintain a five-shot lead over Daniel and Betsy King.
At Dorado, Puerto Rico, it was a special shot, everyone agrees. It was especially special for Jim Colbert.
"I could have either cut it into the wind or tried to bend it," Colbert said. "Neither option was too appealing, especially with bunkers on both sides of the green."
Instead, with his ball sitting in a bunker on the third hole of a playoff, Colbert elected to play a draw. His low 6-iron shot split two palm trees, cleared the bunker protecting the right side of the green by 5 feet and came to a stop 3 feet from the cup.
"That was a special, special shot," Colbert said.
Then, after Jim Albus missed a birdie try from 10 feet, Colbert sank his 3-footer to capture the Senior Tournament of Champions on Sunday.
Colbert and Albus had finished 54 holes on the 6,740-yard Hyatt Dorado Beach East course with 7-under-par 209 totals.