LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Charlie Beljan felt as if his heart was about to burst out of his chest Sunday at Disney, and he couldn't have felt better.
This wasn't another panic attack gone wild, like the one that sent him to the hospital in an ambulance after the second round and made him feel like he was going to die. This was the prospect of winning on the PGA Tour for the first time.
The roller coasters at the Magic Kingdom are nothing like what Beljan went through in the final PGA Tour event of the year.
Two days after he was wheeled out of the scoring room on a stretcher, the 28-year-old rookie was celebrating on the 18th green as the band played "Zippity-Do-Dah." He arrived at the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic with his job in jeopardy, and left with a two-year exemption that will send him to Maui at the start of the year, the PGA Championship at Oak Hill and lots of other tournaments where winners belong.
"Every day I drove underneath that Disney sign coming in here that said, 'Where dreams come true,' and that's just what happened this week," Beljan said after closing with a 3-under 69 for a two-shot win. "And I'm so grateful and so honored."
By the sound of it, he was lucky to be playing.
Beljan could hardly breathe and his blood pressure spiked during his second round, when paramedics followed him around the back nine. After sleeping for only an hour or so in the hospital after a variety of tests, he played Saturday fearful of having another panic attack. And when he awoke Sunday morning, his head was throbbing and his stomach felt queasy.
Once he got on the golf course, the rest was easy.
Robert Garrigus and Matt Every each closed with a 68 and tied for second.
LPGA TOUR: At Guadalajara, Mexico, Cristie Kerr won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour victory in more than two years, and Stacy Lewis tied for fourth to wrap up the player of the year award.
Kerr parred the final three holes at Guadalajara Country Club to hold off Angela Stanford and third-round leader Inbee Park by a stroke. Kerr finished at 16-under 272 for her 15th LPGA Tour title and first since the LPGA Championship in June 2010.
Stanford shot 68, and Park had a 72.
Lewis closed with a 68 to match Candie Kung at 4 under. Kung also shot 68.
EUROPEAN TOUR: At Singapore, Matteo Manassero holed a 12-foot putt for eagle to beat Louis Oosthuizen on the third playoff hole and win the Singapore Open on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Italian became the first teenager to win three titles on the European Tour.
Oosthuizen and Manassero both finished at 13-under 271 in regulation. The South African had seven birdies and three bogeys to card a 67 in the final round, while Manassero, the third-round leader, had three birdies in a round of 69.
Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, barely missed a 4-foot putt for the title on the second playoff hole, covering his mouth in disbelief after it lipped out.
Rory McIlroy finished in third place at 10 under, guaranteeing he will win the European Tour money title. He becomes the second golfer after Luke Donald last year to win both the PGA Tour and European money titles in the same season.
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