Nelson wins after late flourish

Larry Nelson finally got rid of a second-place rut with one of the best final rounds in the history of the Las Vegas Senior Classic today.

Nelson shot an 8-under-par 64 at the Tournament Players Club at Summerlin, playing the final five holes in 5-under to win his first event of the year on the Senior PGA Tour. The win ended a personal streak of three consecutive second-place finishes.

Nelson, who began the day tied for the lead with Bruce Fleisher at 11-under, made birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 17. He also had an eagle-3 on the par-5 16th to finish at a tournament-record 19-under 197 and beat Hale Irwin and Fleisher by five shots.

A winner for the sixth time on the Senior PGA Tour, Nelson finished second at the Emerald Coast Classic, The Tradition, and the PGA Seniors' Championship. He missed a 4-footer that could have won it on the 72nd hole of The Tradition. He three-putted from 25 feet on the last hole of the PGA Seniors' to lose outright grasp of second.

The winner of three majors (1981 and '87 PGA Championships and 1983 U.S. Open) on the PGA Tour said he began to wonder if he could win again.

"I kind of lost a little confidence," Nelson said. "The last couple of seconds I had, I didn't play the last hole very well. You kind of wonder and second-think yourself, I guess. You wonder if you can win. They certainly didn't make it easy on me the first 15 holes today, but I was fortunate to hit it close the last three holes."

Irwin lost any chance for a dramatic finish when he hit his second shot into the water on the 16th. He hit three shots into the water in the 54-hole event and two came on the 16th.

"I've been hitting some very poor 4-woods this week and, in fact, I haven't hit a good one all week," said Irwin, who shot a final-round 65. "Two of the three penalty shots this week came off 4-woods, namely on the 16th hole. So one swing kind of took the air out of a very nice day.

"It was a bad time to make the mistake. I knew Larry would birdie some of the holes I had birdied. I felt I had to go at the pin, but didn't aim at the pin. I was trying to go left and let it drift into the pin and pushed it a bit."

Nelson's closing streak made Irwin's shot academic. The $210,000 first-place check was the largest of his career and raised his season money-earnings to $670,860, second behind Fleisher in the money race.

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