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It’s a Very Happy Birthday for Flesch

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From Associated Press

Steve Flesch, the only golfer with four consecutive rounds in the 60s, wasn’t hurt by a late bogey and won the Colonial on Sunday by a stroke over Chad Campbell.

A closing three-under-par 67 came on Flesch’s 37th birthday, and his winning total was 11-under 269.

It was only the second PGA Tour win for Flesch, and it came a week after he withdrew from the Byron Nelson Championship because his back was sore and he was mentally fatigued.

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Flesch felt much better wearing the winner’s plaid jacket at Hogan’s Alley.

“I hit it so well, it would have been a shame not to win,” Flesch said. “I’m thrilled to death. This is a ballstrikers’ course. It’s not a power course. If I had a chance, it was here.”

Still, Flesch didn’t make it easy on himself at the end. After making a 16-foot birdie putt at the 188-yard 16th hole to get to 12 under, he was sitting in the middle of the fairway at No. 17 with a two-stroke lead.

But he missed the green, and left his chip in the rough. Once Flesch got on the putting surface, he made a five-footer to salvage bogey.

Campbell, who took a share of the lead with a course record-tying 61 Saturday, couldn’t take advantage of Flesch’s mistake. He rolled a 13-foot birdie putt at No. 16 three feet past, then bogeyed 17 after his approach landed in a greenside bunker.

Campbell got back within a stroke, making a five-foot birdie putt at the 433-yard 18th, and finished alone in second place after a closing 68.

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Sherri Steinhauer found a way to win again.

The 19-year LPGA Tour veteran shot a two-under 69 to win the Sybase Classic in New Rochelle, N.Y., by two strokes. It was the sixth victory of her career and the first since 1999, when she won this tournament and the British Open.

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More important, it wiped out memories of 2003, by far her worst year on tour, one she called “miserable” and that almost caused her to consider retiring.

“After last year, playing so horribly, it’s an unbelievable feeling at this point,” she said.

While Becky Morgan, who shared the third-round lead with Steinhauer, had an up-and-down front nine with four birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey, Steinhauer had nine pars. They were still tied at 10 under making the turn, with Grace Park one shot back.

Steinhauer made birdies on Nos. 10, 14 and 15 to go up three strokes over Park. A bogey on 16 cut the lead to two, but Steinhauer had a great par save on 17 and parred 18 to finish with a 12-under 272 and get the win.

Park was second after a 68, and Morgan, who had a four-shot lead after 36 holes, had a one-over 72 and was at 275.

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D.A. Weibring still plays his best in the Midwest. He capped a solid three days of golf in West Des Moines, Iowa, by shooting an even-par 71 in blustery, overcast conditions to win the Allianz Championship by three strokes.

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The Quincy, Ill., native survived an early double bogey to win for the second time on the Champions Tour. His fifth victory in the Midwest was worth $225,000 and came two days shy of his 51st birthday.

Weibring finished at nine-under 204, his fifth top-10 finish in his last six tournaments.

Tom Jenkins closed with a 70 to finish at six under. Tom Watson was next at five under after an up-and-down 71 -- an eagle, three birdies and five bogeys.

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