Browne Declared Greater Gwinnett Championship Winner after Rain Washes Out Final Round


It was fortuitous that Olin Browne was atop the leaderboard at the end of Saturday at the Greater Gwinnett Championship as rain washed out the final round of the $1.8 million Champions Tour at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga., and he was declared the winner.

Browne, a 55-year-old from Washington, D.C., had fired a tournament-record 8-under 64 Saturday to head into the final round at 12-under 132, a stroke ahead of Bernhard Langer, who also shot a 64.

But the rain came and never stopped Sunday, forcing Tour officials to name Browne the tournament winner. Though he was pleased to get his second title on the over-50 circuit, the 2011 U.S. Senior Open was looking forward to being in the final group with the legendary Langer. "I was going to really enjoy playing with him," Browne said during the trophy presentation.

"Having said that, I don't mind having that big sugar jar sitting with my name on it."

After wet weather suspended Friday's first round, the field got caught up by finishing the first two rounds on Saturday. But the rain started coming down Saturday night and never let up.

Brian Claar, the tour's vice president of competition, said the course was "absolutely saturated" by Sunday morning. "There was no way we could play today," he said. "We lost the golf course. The greens we could squeegee but the fairways, there was no place to play. ... There was nothing we could do, and more rain is right on the doorstep again."

"We all knew this was coming and it's really miraculous we got in 36 holes," noted Browne, who earned $270,000. "It's springtime in the South. There's a reason you have those beautiful flowers out here. It's not springtime in the desert."

Finishing in third was Rocco Mediate, while five behind were Sweden's Jesper Parnevik (69), Canada's Stephen Ames (67) and Americans Mark O'Meara (69) and Tom Pernice Jr. (68).

For all the scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/champions/leaderboard.html.