The ovation built with each step British Open champion Tom Lehman took toward the 18th green, a deafening roar filling his eyes with tears that washed away years of frustration.
Slowly, almost shyly, Lehman took off his hat and waved it, allowing a faint smile to cross his face.After bouncing around on minor tours when he lost his PGA Tour card, after coming up short so many times in major championships, Lehman finally was a winner.
"Watching it on TV all those years - that walk up the 18th fairway at the British Open - and then having it happen to you is thrilling," Lehman said. "I had tears in my eyes."
His gutsy 73 Sunday for a total of 13-under-par 271 was two strokes better than Ernie Els and Mark McCumber and three in front of Nick Faldo.
And it ended forever any reference to him as a guy who couldn't get the job done on Sunday.
For the fourth time, Lehman played in the final group at a major championship. For the first time, he won. It was a victory built on past defeats, another courageous finish finally rewarded.
Lehman's triumph was crafted on Royal Lytham and St. Annes Golf Club, but its foundation was built at Augusta, Shinnecock and Oakland Hills, places where he had his chances in majors but lost out when good things happened to other people.
"That's always been my fear, you know," Lehman said. "To have it on my tombstone: `Tom Lehman - He couldn't win the big one."'
He won't have to worry about that now.
As the final 3-foot putt fell, Lehman raised his arms in triumph, gave an emotional embrace to his caddy, Andy Martinez, blew two kisses to the crowd and gave a special hug to his father, Jim.
This time, Lehman stared down the pressure and won when he didn't have his best game.
"There is no worse feeling than getting out there and not knowing where it is going to go," he said. "That's kind of the way I felt today. It was such a struggle I didn't have my rhythm, especially with my putting stroke. You just kind of grind it out."
Lehman, 37, returned to the PGA Tour in 1992 after losing his card and playing for three years in Asia, South Africa, on various mini-tours and anywhere else he could get in a tournament.
"To come here and get that silver trophy makes it all worthwhile," Lehman said. "It makes all the mini-tours, everything, worth it."Then he paused, ran his finger over his name engraved on the silver claret jug and said, "That's pretty, isn't it?"
Lehman's determined effort came as he held up under relentless pressure from Faldo - his playing partner and perhaps the best head-to-head player in the world - and Els, who played two groups in front and shot a 67.
He also stood strong as the hugely pro-Faldo crowd carried their home-country hero along with thunderous applause on every green and constant shouts of "C'mon, Nick" and "Go on, Nick."
At times, some of the shouts turned a little ruder, reminiscent of the partisan nationalistic cheering at a Ryder Cup.
On the seventh hole, a spectator shouted to Lehman: "Knock it in, Greg," an apparent reference to Greg Norman and the big lead he blew in the Masters.
"He was kind of calling me a choker," Lehman said. "It made me determined to play good golf and shut that guy up."
Faldo started the day six strokes behind Lehman - just as he did at the Masters when he beat Norman. The Englishman had his best game with him - just as he did at Augusta - but was betrayed time and again by his putter and shot a 70.
He missed four birdie putts of 7 feet or less in the first seven holes, two of which went into the cup and spun put. Faldo pulled within three strokes with a 33 on the front nine, but never got closer.
"He played well," Faldo said of Lehman. "He played sensibly. He manages his game and he had the nice cushion."
DEPOSIT GUARANTY CLASSIC
MADISON, Miss. (AP) - Willie Wood shot a 5-under-par 67 Sunday and won the Deposit Guaranty Golf Classic by one shot for his first PGA Tour victory.
Wood, the ninth-leading money winner on the Nike Tour with $67,008, earned $180,000. He became the sixth first-time winner on the PGA Tour this year and the third straight first-time winner of the Deposit Guaranty Classic.
Kirk Triplett finished second, and Scott Hoch closed with a 65 to finish tied for third at 271 with third-round leader Greg Kraft. Hoch also won last week's Michelob Championship and stands fifth on the tour's money list.
Wood, who had won five major junior titles and nine collegiate events, had four straight rounds below par - shooting 68-67-66-67. He also used uncanny accuracy, hitting 67 of 72 greens in regulation, and made only four bogeys in four trips around the 7,157-yard Jack Nicklaus-designed Annandale Golf Club.
LPGA FRIENDLY'S CLASSIC
AGAWAM, Mass. (AP) - Dottie Pepper, weakened by a virus, struck an excellent approach shot and birdied the final hole Sunday to overtake Brandie Burton and win the LPGA Friendly's Classic, her third victory in five weeks.
Burton, who had led all day, flubbed a 6-foot uphill putt for par on No. 18 that would have forced a playoff.
Pepper closed with a 3-under-par 69 for a 9-under 279 total. She had three bogeys during her round but offset them with birdies on Nos. 4, 5, 9, 11, 13 and 18.
Burton, a four-time LPGA champion, shot a 75 and was alone in second at 280 at the windy Crestview Country Club. Mardi Lunn also finished with a 75 two strokes back at 281. Annika Sorenstam, the two-time U.S. Women's Open Champion, ended seven strokes back in fourth place.
BURNET SENIOR CLASSIC
COON RAPIDS, Minn. (AP) - Vicente Fernandez became only the fifth qualifier to win a Senior PGA Tour event, shooting a 4-under-par 68 on Sunday for a one-stroke victory in the Burnet Senior Classic.
Fernandez, an Argentine who played the PGA European Tour for 20 years until joining the senior circuit when he turned 50 in May, earned $187,500. That was $3,088 more than he had made in his previous nine events.
John Bland, also a former European tour player, was the last qualifier to win on the tour when he took last year's Ralphs Senior Classic.
Fernandez shot a 67 on Monday to qualify, then opened the tournament Friday with seven birdies and four bogeys for a 69. He closed with bogey-free 68s for an 11-under 205 total on the Bunker Hills course.
Bruce Crampton, bidding to become only the fifth 60-plus player to win since the tour's inception in 1980, also shot a 68 to tie for second with J.C. Snead. Each earned $100,000 of the $1.25 million purse.