Belle Plaine native Lonnie Nielsen celebrated his 56^th birthday a day early Sunday afternoon, as he surged to the lead with a spectacular start and went on to post his second win on the PGA Champions golf tour at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, NY.

Nielsen went into the final day of the tournament trailing Fred Funk by three shots. But he opened his final round with birdies on the first and second hole, a long putt for eagle on the third and two more birdies on four and five to go six under for the day. He finished by posting a nine-under 63 for the round. His three-day total of minus 21 was the lowest score posted on the Champions Tour this year.

Meanwhile, Funk tried to stay close, but faded to finish three under for the day and ended the tournament in a tie for second place with Ronnie Black. Both men finished three strokes back.

When reached by e-mail today (Monday), Nielsen replied, “It has been busy here since the big win, (with) lots of calls e-mails etc.  What a thrill.  Winning never gets old because it is so hard to do.  Nothing like it.  I will be playing in all of the events this year.   3M is next and it might be my favorite course we play.  Nice to be going in there full of confidence.”

The victory was Nielsen’s second career win on the Champions Tour and it came before a host of friends. He was a longtime club pro near Buffalo, NY and he said after his round that it was nice to get that win in front of friends. His wife, Mary Jo, was also at the tourney. His previous best finish in 2009 was a tie for third at the Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am.

The tournament didn’t start off well for Nielsen, who shot a double bogey six on the second hole on Friday. But he then carded three straight birdies, followed by a bogey on the sixth hole and two more birdies to post a two-under 35 on the front nine. Five birdies highlighted the second round as he finished day one with a 66. On Saturday, he had four birdies on the front nine for a 33 and three birdies and a bogey on the back nine for another 33 and another round of 66.

The Champions Tour takes the week off before returning to action July 10-12 at the 3M Championship at Blaine, MN.

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