Sharon Funk, six months pregnant, accompanied her husband around the golf course as he squandered a huge lead, then came back to add $180,000 to their assets.
It wasn't a comfortable time for the man of the family."She followed me the last four days," Fred Funk said Sunday after winning the Ideon Classic by one stroke. "I thought she was going to have the baby today."
"I was nervous," Sharon Funk said, "but the baby was sleeping."
Fred Funk started the day an impressive 18-under par with a four-stroke lead over Jim McGovern. But after 13 holes marked by shaky putting and tee shots into the rough, he was 15-under and trailing McGovern by one.
"I didn't panic" when he fell behind, Funk said. "I was already in kind of a state of panic."
He was saved when McGovern bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes to drop a stroke back. Both birdied the 583-yard 18th as Funk became the fifth straight winner of the Pleasant Valley Country Club event to shoot 16-under 268.
Funk's 2-over 73 was the worst final round of any winner on the PGA Tour this year. But his 195 total for the first three rounds matched the lowest 54-hole score on this year's PGA tour.
McGovern shot 70 for 269 and Don Pooley's second straight 68 left him at 270. Joey Sindelar, Lennie Clements, Roger Maltbie and Jay Williamson were next at 271.
At Aurora, Ill., Hale Irwin may be getting better with age.
Irwin shot a 6-under-par 66 Sunday to post a tournament record 21-under 195 for his first Senior PGA Tour victory at the $850,000 Ameritech Senior Open at Stonebridge Country Club. It was the best 54-hole total on the senior circuit this year.
"I think I'm playing every bit as good as I've ever played," Irwin said. "Am I doing things necessary to play this well on the regular tour? I don't know."
A rookie on the senior circuit after celebrating his 50th birthday on June 3, Irwin won by seven strokes over Kermit Zarley to become the fifth youngest winner in Senior PGA Tour history. Irwin had earlier rounds of 66-63 at Stonebridge.
The previous tournament record was a 16-under 200 set by Mike Hill in 1991 at the 6,840-yard, par-72 course.
Zarley posted a 68 to finish at 202 (69-65-68) for the tournament. Dave Stockton was third at 204 (73-65-66), while Mike Hill was fourth at 205 (67-72-66).
At Agawan, Mass., Becky Iverson, a virtual no-name on the LPGA tour, should have folded under the pressure. Kelly Robbins, a three-time winner, should have held fast on honed nerves.
But "should have" meant nothing Sunday on the 12th hole of the Crestview Country Club, where Iverson birdied and Robbins double-bogeyed. Iverson, who began the round tied with Robbins for the lead, shot the 2-under-par 70 on Sunday to win the LPGA Friendly's Classic, finishing at 12-under 276.
A superstitious player, Iverson credited her unlikely victory to recycling the ball from her 9-under-par 63 in the second round.
Robbins shot an even-par 72 and finished in a second-place tie with Helen Alfredsson, who had a 69, two strokes behind Iverson.
Kris Tschetter and rookie Pat Hurst finished at 279.
At Portrush, Northern Ireland, Brian Barnes took advantage of a short missed putt by making a long one to win the British Seniors Open. Barnes, of Scotland, won the title Sunday with an 80-foot eagle putt on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff to defeat American Bob Murphy.