AKRON, Ohio — The drought is over for Fuzzy Zoeller — and maybe it is for the Senior PGA Tour as well.
Zoeller made several daring escapes for par coming down the stretch to win the Senior PGA Championship Sunday, his first victory since joining the senior tour earlier this year.
Zoeller closed with a 2-under-par 68 to finish at 2-under 278, two strokes better than third-round leader Bobby Wadkins and three-time Senior PGA Championship winner Hale Irwin.
The major championship victory might have given the senior circuit a major shot of adrenaline. Zoeller is seen as a savior for the Senior PGA Tour, which is begging for a character with some color to counteract declining TV ratings and sagging attendance.
Zoeller whistled as he walked from green to tee, talked to fans between shots, cracked wise with his playing partners and generally added some dash to a graying tour.
"I'm just one person. We're doing a lot of positives for the game of golf on the senior tour," Zoeller said. "We don't want people to think we're clones. We want to show them we're human. I know I am."
He collected $360,000 — his largest check in 27 years as a pro.
The victory was Zoeller's first in any tournament since winning the Anheuser-Busch Classic 16 years ago on the PGA Tour. The 1979 Masters and 1984 U.S. Open were among his 10 tour victories, but he never won a PGA title, finishing second to Larry Nelson in the 1981 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club.
"I wasn't sure I'd ever win again," he said. "Every time I got close, somebody seemed to play a little better."
It wasn't his three final-round birdies that were most memorable.
At the par-4 13th, holding on to a one-shot lead over Wadkins, Zoeller drove into the shin-high rough lining the narrow fairways at Firestone Country Club. He was able to advance the ball to equally heavy rough closer to the green, then hit a wedge to 10 feet and made the par putt to retain the lead.
"It seemed like every time I was out today, my putter saved me," he said. "That putt at 13 was very crucial. Those are the things that happen when you win tournaments."