ESPN TOURS

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Cool weather and gusting wind frustrated most of the players in the final round of the Home Depot Invitational. That was fine with Bruce Fleisher.

"With the weather conditions, I think it favored me in a way. It didn't allow a lot of guys to really get it going," said Fleisher, who shot a 4-under 68 on Sunday for a three-stroke victory.

Fleisher, who began Sunday's round a stroke behind Jim Colbert, won the tournament for the third consecutive time. He had a tournament-record 15-under 201 total on the TPC at Piper Glen.

South Africa's John Bland shot 66 to finish second. Colbert shot a 72 to tie for third with Larry Nelson and Jim Thorpe at 11 under. Nelson and Thorpe had 66s.

Fleisher, the only three-time winner in the 22-year history of the tournament, earned $195,000 for his 13th senior victory and second in three weeks. He broke the tournament record of 13-under 203 he shared with Don Bies, Lee Trevino and Bob Murphy.

Fleisher took the lead on the eighth hole with a 10-foot birdie putt, after Colbert left his approach to the 189-yard par-3 in the fringe and chipped close to save par.

With a birdie to Colbert's bogey on the par-4 No. 9, Fleisher reached 15 under and extended his advantage to three shots. Colbert and Joe Inman each lost two more shots with matching bogeys at Nos. 11 and 13, opening the race for second place to final-round chargers Bland, Nelson and Thorpe.

Until Fleisher's back-to-back birdies on Nos. 8 and 9, however, his third straight title was anything but a certainty. Starting the final round tied with Fleisher for second at 11 under, Inman took a short-lived lead with birdies at the first two holes.

"I think eight and nine were really the turning point, as far as the guys I was playing with," Fleisher said. "I couldn't control what was happening in front of me, but no one was really making a run at it."

Fleisher birdied the par-5 No. 2 to stay within a shot at 12 under, then buried an 18-footer for birdie on No. 3 to produce a three-way tie for the lead at 13 under.

Colbert stayed on pace by hitting his approach at the 415-yard par-4 within 15 inches of the hole, then tapping in for birdie.

Inman surrendered his share of the lead with a three-putt bogey on the par-3 No. 4, and all three players in the final group matched par until Fleisher holed his birdie on No. 8.

"He birdied eight and nine, and boom, it was the Bataan Death March on the back nine," Inman said. "He put it where he had to put it all day. Today, every time I hit one, it seemed like it landed in the wrong place."

Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press