Fleisher sets tournament mark

His seven-shot win was the largest margin in Bruno's Memorial Classic history.
HOOVER, Ala. (AP) -- Bruce Fleisher was a young amateur playing with Arnold Palmer in 1969 when he learned a valuable lesson -- nerves are just a part of golf.
"I said, 'Arnie, when do you stop being nervous?' " Fleisher recalled Sunday after his seven-stroke victory in the Bruno's Memorial Classic. "He said, 'The day I quit being nervous is the day I quit golf.' "
The 55-year-old Fleisher is nowhere near that point. If ever he was going to beat the jitters it would have been Sunday, when he opened with a four-stroke lead and would have needed a major collapse to blow it in the final nine holes.
He shot a 4-under 68 to finish at 16-under 200 and secure the largest winning margin in tournament history.
A late start to allow the course to dry after overnight rain didn't make matters easier, forcing him to hang out in his hotel room, pacing and even ironing clothes to kill the time.
"It was not an easy morning for me," Fleisher said.
Par-saving ninth
A par-saving shot out of a bunker on the ninth hole helped him relax a little bit. The ball nearly spun into the hole and wound up only about 5 feet away.
"That was the turning point of the whole tournament for me," Fleisher said. "If I miss that putt, I probably let a lot of guys back in the tournament."
Instead, he turned the tournament into a runaway victory.
Fleisher maintained the four-stroke advantage through the first nine holes and then had three straight birdies over the final six holes.
Bruce Lietzke (67) and D.A. Weibring (71) tied for second at 9-under. Defending champion Tom Jenkins (71) fell from second to fourth after a double bogey on the final hole, when his tee shot hit a cart path and bounced out of bounds.
The previous biggest margin of victory in the Bruno's was five strokes by Graham Marsh in 1995.
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