Flesch survives late scare to win

Steve Flesch held on to win the Turning Stone Resort Championship by two shots after carding a final round one-over-par 73 in Sunday's final round.

At 18-under 270, Flesch finished two shots clear of Michael Allen (68) with John Senden (67) and John Mallinger (68) tied for third at 15-under 273.

Flesch, who won the Reno-Tahoe Open earlier this season, entered the final round with a four-shot lead, but got off to a slow start. He bogeyed his first two holes but settled down and responded with consecutive birdies at the third and fourth.

"I got off to a bad start. I've actually fatted two bunker shots today out of the fairway bunkers," said Flesch. "I played a couple sloppy holes today in general. The first and the last are two pretty sloppy ones.

"But I worked hard the first three days to build that lead, and fortunately I had some shots to play with. So today wasn't my best work but that's all right. I outlasted everybody else, so that's all I was worried about."

Flesch added a birdie at the eighth and despite dropping two shots over the last three holes, held on to post the first multiple-win season of his career.

"I've come a long way in eight weeks. Eight weeks ago I was fighting to keep my job out here," added Flesch. "I wasn't playing great. Missing a lot of cuts by a shot. When I did make the cut I was shooting even-par on the weekends and you're just waving guys by when that happens.

"It's been a few years since I've been up there on the Money List. I figure I've got four more events this year to secure my spot in that Top-30 and get in all the majors next year. That's my goal right now, get in those majors, because I haven't been in them for a couple of years and I really relish playing in them."