Lewis clinches title with closing 62

J.L. Lewis ' loss to Vijay Singh in the John Deere Classic put him in the right frame of mind to win the 84 Lumber Classic of Pennsylvania.

Of course, shooting a career-best and Mystic Rock course-record 10-under-par 62 in the final round on Sunday didn't hurt.

"I learned a lot last week," he said of his second-place finish behind Singh. "I led the (John Deere) tournament every day, and in the fourth round, I didn't play as well as I'm capable; but I learned a lot."

Lewis finished 22 under, the best ever at the tournament. Robert Allenby won with a 19-under 269 in 2001 when the tournament was known as the Marconi Pennsylvania Classic.

Lewis said he took careful note of Singh's demeanor when he won by four strokes last week.

"Nobody put any heat on him," Lewis said, "but what I noticed the most was that he didn't put any heat on himself."

There was no real heat on Lewis on Sunday. He was so far back heading into a day when the field had to play 36 holes because the remnants of Hurricane Isabel pushed Friday's second round back to Saturday.

Lewis began the day -- not the round -- with an 8-under 136. He shot a third-round 68 on the rain-softened Mystic Rock course and was at 12 under, seven shots behind Cameron Beckman, who was one of three players to tie the old course record with a 64 in the third round.

Stuart Appleby also shot a 64 in the third round, and finished with a 67. He was tied for second with Frank Lickliter and Tim Petrovic at 20-under 268.

Lickliter was 13 under for the day, shooting a 65 and a 66.

Petrovic said he wasn't shocked by the low scores, given the wide fairways, coupled with the lift, clean and place rules in effect because of the rain-soaked course.

"Any time you put a ball in the PGA Tour player's hands and let them tee it up in the fairway, and the greens are softer, you are going to be seeing a lot of low scores and birdies," Petrovic said.

It was Lewis' first win of the season and second of his career, the other being the 1999 John Deere Classic. With the $720,000 winner's share of the $4 million purse, Lewis has made $1,909,754 this year on the strength of six top-10 finishes.

Lewis' victory moves him to 17th on the money list, and he has a strong shot at appearing in the season-ending TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. He also earned 100 points in the Fall Finish presented by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which helped him grab second place in the competition.

The win and resulting money rankings also likely qualified him for his first Masters and his first PGA Championship. He will also participate in the Mercedes Championships, held in January 2004.

All that hardly seemed likely when the final round began with him seven shots behind Beckman, who shot a final-round 74 to finish with a 17-under 271 and tied for fifth.

Because PGA Tour officials were forced to fit 36 holes into the tournament's final day, the player groupings for the final round were the same as they were for the third round.

That created an unusual scenario as the various leaders and co-leaders down the stretch -- Lewis, Lickliter, Beckman, Petrovic and Appleby -- played in separate groups as many as seven holes apart. That forced golfers and fans to follow the leader boards rather than one or two final groups.

Lickliter began the day at 7 under and moved to 14 under with a third-round 65. He moved into a four-way tie for the lead at 18 under after shooting a 32 on the front nine.

Lewis moved to 17 under with a 31 on the final front nine before reeling off four straight birdies on holes 11 through 14. That put him alone at 21 under. Lickliter and Appleby were at 20 under and were playing in front of him.

Lewis bogeyed the par-4 15th to fall back into a three-way tie with Appleby and Lickliter, who was already in the clubhouse.

Appleby was on the 18th with a chance to join Lewis at 21 under, but he missed his birdie putt and finished tied with Lickliter.

Lewis regained the lead with a birdie on the par-5 16th. After making par on the 17th, all Lewis had to do was stay out of trouble -- which he almost failed to do.

His drive was wide right and landed in deep rough near a cement cart path. But he recovered with a lob wedge to within 20 feet of the pin. Lewis then sank the putt for his record-setting birdie.

Beckman led by two shots over partner Robert Damron going into the second round. Damron finished with a 73, and tied for eighth with Craig Barlow at 16-under 272.

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