Not even a steady rain on Sunday could stop Tim Herron, who shot a 3-under-par 69 to win the Honda Classic by four strokes and become the first PGA rookie to win wire-to-wire in 13 years.
Herron finished at 17-under 279 and won $234,000, more than three times his earnings from the Nike Tour last year when he finished 25th on the money list.It was the first professional win for Herron, who got his PGA card by finishing 12th in the qualifying tournament. He won in just his seventh PGA event, the same number Phil Mickelson had played before he won his first tour event as an amateur.
"My goal was to move up in the shuffle, to make the top 125" on the money list," Herron said. "I tried to make modest goals. This makes me feel like my game belongs out here."
Mark McCumber shot a 69 and finished second at 275, one stroke ahead of Lee Rinker, Payne Stewart and Nick Price.
Price was the last rookie to lead from start to finish when he won the World Series of Golf in 1983. The last wire-to-wire winner by anyone was Bob Estes in the 1994 Texas Open.
The rainy, cool conditions and the nerves of being the final round leader figured to get the best of the Herron, a 26-year-old long hitter with a soft touch around the greens. He even said on Saturday he hoped to gain some experience from it.
Then he went out and showed that his first-round 62, which tied a course record on TPC at Eagle Trace, was no fluke.
There was but one lapse, when he chunked a shot on the par-3 17th hole into the water. He responded to trouble the way he has all week - by draining a 20-foot putt from the fringe for bogey, hanging his tongue out in relief.
It was the one of the few displays of emotion all day from Herron, whose chubby, disheveled appearance earned him the nickname "Lumpy" when he worked at a golf course in Minnesota as a teen-ager.
From the time he belted his first drive down the umbrella-lined fairway, he had the look of a winner. His approach on No. 1 spun back an inch by the hole, setting up a tap-in birdie, and he never stopped firing at the pins until he reached No. 8.
By then, the three-stroke lead he had started the day with over Michael Campbell had grown to six over McCumber.
McCumber got to 14-under after a birdie at No. 10. He glanced at the leader board for the first time to see if he had made any headway, only to see Herron at 18-under.
"He had a lot of curve balls thrown at him and he didn't buckle at all," McCumber said. "I've finally met him. Everybody is going to know him now."
After a bogey on the par-3 third hole, Herron birdied the next four holes - a 6-footer on No. 4, a two-putt from about 35 feet on the par-5 fifth, and 20-foot putts on Nos. 6 and 7.
He also took bogey on No. 13 and his lead was only three over McCumber. But he birdied the next one, and McCumber was finished when the club appeared to slip on his drive on No. 16. It caught the neck of the club and shot straight left, leading to a bogey to send him back to 13-under.
Campbell, who has one victory on the European Tour and led the British Open in the final round last year until shooting a 76, came to the first tee with more swagger. He had said leading would be a new experience for Herron, whom he had met on the Australasian Tour two years ago, and that a three-stroke deficit would be nothing to make up in the final round.
Herron's bold play put Campbell out of the picture in a hurry. After his brilliant approach at No. 1, Campbell three-putted from about 25 feet for bogey, then bogeyed the second hole when his drive caught the lip of a fairway bunker. He finished with a 74, eight strokes behind.
At Canberra, Lee Trevino shot a 1-under-par 71 for a five-stroke victory in the inaugural Australian PGA Seniors.
"I told my caddie before we started that 72 would be a good round today because of the difficult wind," said Trevino, who had a 6-under 282 total on the Gold Creek Country Club course.
"All I had to do was keep it on the fairway and if I shot par the person behind me would have to shoot 66 to win."
Trevino made 12 consecutive pars before a birdie on the 13th, a bogey on the 15th and a birdie on the 16th.
Australia's Terry Gale closed with a 72 to finish second. Australian Noel Ratcliffe shot a 73 to finish third, five strokes behind Gale.
Course designer Bruce Devlin of Australia shot a final-round 77 to finish 18 strokes behind Trevino.