Ten days past his 40th birthday, Paul Azinger eventually won again. And he did it with some emphasis, shooting a bogey-free final round of 65 to beat closest challenger Stuart Appleby by seven strokes in the Sony Open at Waialae CC in Hawaii on Sunday.
It was Azinger's first tournament victory since 1993, when he was diagnosed with lymphoma of the right shoulder after his only major triumph - in the USPGA Championship at Inverness. "I doubted for a long time that I was ever going to win again, I was playing so badly," he said of his prolonged drought.
Azinger, who carded a 19under-par aggregate of 261, went on: "It wasn't until the middle of last year that I started to see some consistency in my play. Then, by the end of the year, I felt it was only a matter of time. It's been six years since I won and for four of those years I saw no hope."
Among other things, this comeback win eases the pain of losing his close friend, Payne Stewart, in an air-crash last October. But he still felt incapable of talking about his loss. "I really don't know what to say, especially what happened the last few months," he said.
It was his 12th career win and three of those were in 1993, when he also captured the Memorial Tournament and the New England Classic. His first three victories were in 1987 when, as it happened, he also made his first impact on this side of the Atlantic.
That was in the British Open at Muirfield in which he led by three strokes after the eighth hole of the final round. From there, however, he proceeded to drop strokes at the 10th, 11th and 17th. Then, needing a four at the last to tie Nick Faldo, who had the clubhouse lead after carding 18 successive pars, the American was in a greenside bunker in two, forcing him to settle for a bogey.
Afterwards, Azinger had the good grace to say: "I think I proved to myself and a lot of people that I can be a contender over here. I don't want anybody to feel sorry for me." As it happened, he confirmed he could compete on this side of the Atlantic by capturing the BMW International in 1990 and again in 1992.
But in British Open appearances since then, the closest he came to emulating his Muirfield performance was in 1989, when he was tied eighth behind compatriot Mark Calcavecchia at Royal Troon.
Meanwhile, the sympathy he had earlier spurned, came to him in circumstances he could never have anticipated. Europeans, who admired him as a doughty battler in Ryder Cup matches with Seve Ballesteros, quite apart from his tournament successes, rallied to support him in his fight at overcoming cancer.
Now, a brave comeback has culminated in his biggest tournament cheque. And it brings his career earnings to $9,103,695 since he joined the US Tour in 1982. In the process, he became the first wire-to-wire winner on the American tour since David Toms captured the Sprint International last August.
In 1994 and 1995 he filled the role of host for the Zinger Stinger Pro-Am, which raised money for lymphoma research. And a year later, he gained the Ben Hogan Trophy from the American Golf Writers, in acknowledgment of his determination to overcome a physical handicap.
Australia's Karrie Webb won the first event of the US women's season in West Palm Beach in Florida at the weekend. Webb, the world number one, fired a final round 71 to win by four strokes and take the £71,000 first prize.
