Scherrer gains first PGA Tour win

Tom Scherrer on his way to his first PGA Tour win, he was the only golfer to shoot in the 60's in all 4 rounds. Allsport

On Wednesday, Tom Scherrer received a solid gold ball marker as a good luck charm from one of his pro-am playing partners. Others in the group had reminded Scherrer of the Kemper Open's legacy of producing first-time PGA Tour winners and had suggested it was maybe his turn.

Those amateurs knew what they were talking about. Today, Scherrer, marking his ball with gold, became the tournament's ninth first-time winner.

"One of the guys gave me this solid gold ball mark," Scherrer said. "`He said, 'If you use this ball mark, you'll win the tournament.' I'm going to have that ball mark for a long time."

Scherrer, who didn't lead until the back nine on the final day, closed with a 4-under-par 67 for a two-stroke victory. He was the only player to shoot sub-70 rounds each round, his 67-68-69-67 effort earning him the life-changing winner's check.

"I'm sure it will change," said Scherrer, whose $540,000 share accounts for about one-third of his career earnings. "It's something I've been dreaming about forever. It's going to change my life, but it's not going to change me."

Scherrer battled Steve Lowery, the leader or co-leader after each of the first three rounds, down the stretch. The difference: Lowery had two bogeys, while Scherrer had two incredible par saves.

The most difficult came at the 16th, where Scherrer sprayed his tee shot way right -- beyond the cart path and next to a green plastic trunk under the television crane.

"It's embarrassing to hit a shot that far off line," Scherrer said.

Scherrer was given a drop, only to hook his next shot into the back greenside bunker. His wedge shot landed within 3 feet, setting up a par to keep his one-stroke lead.

Scherrer is the fifth first-time winner on the PGA Tour this year, joining Kirk Triplett, Darren Clarke, Jim Carter and Robert Allenby. He also joins Fred Couples (1983), Greg Norman (1984), Bill Glasson (1985), Tom Byrum (1989), Billy Andrade (1991), Grant Waite (1993), Steve Stricker (1996), and Rich Beem (1999) as first-time tour winners at the Kemper.

Unlike Beem, who came out of nowhere last year, Scherrer was due. The 29-year-old Syracuse, N.Y., native had been playing his best golf lately, with a career-best second-place tie finish in Tucson in February and rounds of 69 and 71 in The Memorial last week before falling back over the weekend.

Still, the victory was overwhelming. Scherrer's wife, Jennifer, was in tears at the 18th green as she carried their 11-month old son, Thomas William. Scherrer, too, got choked up before he raised the trophy he had eyed since noticing it at the Tournament Players Championship in March.

"Where we would eat, there was a trophy room of all the trophies from all the tournaments," Scherrer said. "I remember looking at them and thinking that Kemper Open one is really nice. I said, 'That's one of the better looking ones there.' So here I am a few months later, and I've got it."

Lowery, the third-round leader, shot an even-par 71 and tied for second with Justin Leonard (69), Greg Chalmers (68), Kazuhiko Hosokawa (66), and Franklin Langham (70).

Scherrer first made the tour in 1996, but it lasted just a year when he finished 141st on the money list. After two years on the Buy.com Tour, he regained his card and returned last year. He recently lost 30 pounds as he got back in shape following problems with his shoulder.

Scherrer began the day at 9-under, trailing Lowery by two strokes. Scherrer made up the deficit with birdies at Nos. 2 and 6 before a disheartening 3-putt from 14 feet gave him a bogey at the ninth.

Scherrer recovered immediately, however, sinking a birdie putt from 22 feet at No. 10 and another from 5 feet at No. 11 to take the solo lead for the first time at 12-under.

From there, it was essentially a two-man battle. Lowery tied Scherrer with a birdie at the 13th, but Scherrer chipped within a foot at the short par-4 14th for a birdie to retake the lead at 13 under. Lowery nearly duplicated the feat moments later, making a short putt to tie Scherrer again.

Scherrer nearly lost the lead when his approach landed right of the green at No. 15, but he saved par with a 15-foot putt. Then came his amazing recovery at No. 16, one of five greens he failed to make in regulation on the day.

Lowery, whose only tour victory came six years ago, fell out of the tie when he missed an 8-foot putt for par after landing in the sand at 15. The victory was sealed for Scherrer when Lowery's tee shot landed in the water at the par-3 17th.

Today ended a high-profile week for Lowery, who played the final round with Tiger Woods at the Memorial Tournament on Monday before nearly leading this tournament from start to finish.

"It's a lot of stress on you," Lowery said.

For a while, it seemed Chalmers would walk away with the tournament. The left-handed Australian birdied four of the first five holes -- he made a 30-foot putt at No. 4 -- to take the lead at 12-under. But he put his tee shot in the water at the par-3 ninth and moved back into a four-way tie for the lead with Lowery, Scherrer and Leonard.

Leonard had an 11-foot birdie putt at No. 9 and also birdied No. 11 to hold the lead by himself at 12-under, but it lasted only one hole. He pulled his tee shot into the rough at the difficult 12th for a double bogey.

An impressive run was made by Hosokawa, who started the day five strokes off the lead at 6-under. Hosokawa had four birdies on the back nine and nearly made a 15-foot birdie putt at the 17th that would have tied him for the lead. He also came within an inch of holing from the rough at 18, finishing a 31 on the back nine.

Another gorgeous day -- Friday was the only unbearably humid day this year -- made conditions good for a course that usually doesn't yield many birdies. Michael Clark II, one of the early starters, tied a tournament record Sunday with an 8-under 63.

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