Bob Gilder gains wire to wire victory

Bob Gilder had just plunked his tee shot into a pond, an inexplicable mistake that resulted in a double bogey that shaved his four-stroke lead to a single shot.

``I'm thinking, 'Uh oh. Don't be this stupid and throw this away,''' he said.

The errant shot turned out to be the lone flaw in an otherwise lovely Sunday afternoon for Gilder, who shot a 5-under-par 67 to capture the Constellation Energy Classic by four strokes over Morris Hatalsky.

It was Gilder's first victory on the Champions Tour in more than two years. He never trailed after opening with a 64 on Friday.

``Being away from winning for that long, if someone would have been challenging me right up to the end, I don't know how I would have reacted,'' he said. ``Hopefully I would have felt OK.''

Gilder built a three-shot lead with nine holes to play and coasted to the finish. He chipped in from 40 feet for par on No. 18 to finish at 18-under 198, tying the tournament record set by Christy O'Connor in 1999.

``It was a lot of fun,'' he said. ``I'd never have thought I could shoot that number on this course.''

Gilder earned $255,000, more than half the sum he made over his first 22 tournaments this year. Before this weekend, he finished in the top 10 only twice in 2005. It was his eighth career victory on the Champions Tour, the first since the 2003 Emerald Coast Classic.

``I knew I could play well enough to win. I just wasn't doing it,'' he said. ``It was a matter of getting back on my game, eliminating mistakes and making some putts.''

His harrowing moment Sunday came on No. 3. Although the pin was back on the green some 183 yards away, Gilder came up embarrassingly short with his 7-iron and hit the water.

``I didn't make a mistake after that,'' he said.

Hatalsky pulled even with a birdie on the next hole, but Gilder played bogey-free golf the rest of the way. After Gilder birdied No. 11 to move four shots up, the only suspense was who would finish second.

``I was surprised no one made a move at me,'' he said.

Hatalsky shot a 69. His birdie on the 18th hole enabled him to break a tie with Curtis Strange and earn $149,600 for second place.

Strange shot a 69 for a 203 total to take third, his best finish since joining the tour this year. D.A. Weibring (71) came in fourth, one shot ahead of Tom Watson (71) and John Bland (68).

``D.A. and I never really put much pressure on Bob today,'' Hatalsky said. ``I was surprised he had that hiccup on No. 3, but he bounced back right away. He didn't forget how to win.''

198 Bob Gilder 64 67 67

202 Morris Hatalsky 69 64 69

203 Curtis Strange 68 66 69

204 D A Weibring 67 66 71

205 John Bland (Rsa) 67 70 68, Tom Watson 66 68 71

206 Gary McCord 69 69 68

207 Hajime Meshiai (Jpn) 67 69 71, Bruce Fleisher 69 66 72, Pete Oakley 69 67 71, Rick Rhoden 68 68 71

208 Jim Colbert 68 72 68, Don Pooley 71 69 68, James Mason 70 69 69, Joe Inman 71 69 68

209 Dan Pohl 66 70 73, John Ross 68 69 72, John Jacobs (Eng) 67 71 71, Dana Quigley 71 70 68

210 Larry Nelson 67 71 72, Tom Kite 73 67 70, Wayne Levi 71 70 69, Andy Bean 68 72 70, Keith Fergus 69 70 71, Graham Marsh (Aus) 71 72 67, Gary Koch 72 67 71

211 Brad Bryant 71 67 73

212 Jerry Pate 73 68 71, Tom Jenkins 69 73 70, Mike Hill 73 71 68, Mike Sullivan 71 70 71, Tom McKnight 72 70 70

213 Jim Albus 71 72 70, Bruce Summerhays 72 70 71, Ed Dougherty 71 70 72, Rocky Thompson 70 73 70, R.W. Eaks 75 68 70, Mike McCullough 71 69 73

214 Mark McCumber 74 67 73, Lonnie Nielsen 73 71 70, Ray Floyd 73 72 69, Jim Thorpe 73 71 70, Jay Sigel 71 72 71, Doug Johnson 70 74 70, John Harris 74 70 70, Dave Barr (Can) 70 71 73, Walter Hall 71 74 69, Des Smyth (Irl) 71 74 69

215 Mark James (Eng) 68 74 73, Doug Tewell 71 70 74

216 Allen Doyle 69 75 72, Howard Twitty 71 72 73, Jim Ahern 73 73 70, Dale Douglass 73 71 72, Bob Murphy 70 70 76, Bob Charles (Nzl) 69 72 75, Bobby Wadkins 71 71 74

217 Gibby Gilbert 70 74 73, Mike San Filippo 70 73 74, David Eger 72 71 74, Dave Stockton 73 74 70, Mark Johnson 72 72 73, Norm Jarvis 71 73 73, 218 Lanny Wadkins 73 75 70

219 Mike Donald 74 73 72, Charles Coody 71 75 73, Don Reese 77 71 71

220 J.C Snead 73 72 75, Mike Reid 72 76 72, Joe Clark 74 73 73

221 Leonard Thompson 74 72 75

222 Dick Mast 78 74 70, Jim Dent 76 71 75

225 Larry Ziegler 76 76 73

227 Deane Beman 76 75 76

229 Lee Trevino 80 73 76

230 Terry Dill 74 77 79

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